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Author: Steven H. Jaffe

The author discusses his recent book, "Four-Letter Nation," with a talk exploring four centuries of American profanity and its ties to power, identity and rebellion.

About the Book (from the publisher): 

A fascinating history of American profanity that traces how taboo language has shaped US politics, religion, and pop culture, and how it has evolved into an expression of power and rebellion.

For four hundred years, Americans have been told to watch their language. For four hundred years, they haven’t listened.

From Puritan colonies where cursing could earn you a whipping to Civil War camps, jazz clubs, comedy stages, rock festivals, rap lyrics, and presidential politics, "Four-Letter Nation" tells the surprising, rollicking history of America’s forbidden words—and shows that “bad language” has never been merely about bad manners.

The words Americans are not supposed to say have exposed our deepest fights over religion and respectability, class and power, sex and gender, race and rebellion, art and censorship. Again and again, the nation’s censors and reformers—what Jaffe calls the Word Police—have tried to purify American speech, protecting the country from moral ruin one dirty word at a time. And again and again, soldiers, singers, writers, radicals, presidents, and ordinary loudmouths have pushed back.

About the Author: 

Steven H. Jaffe is a writer, historian, and curator who has worked for a wide range of museums and institutions, including the Museum of the City of New York, the South Street Seaport Museum, the New-York Historical Society, and the American Jewish Historical Society. He is the author of New York at War and Activist New York, among other books. He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with his family.

Public Humanities programs are presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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