LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Celebratory in spirit, and personal in perspective, Adam Zmith’s Deep Sniff explores queer culture and history through the prism of poppers from Victorian institutions, to the 1970s sex scene, and beyond.
Setting out to “reveal something of the relationship between commerce, regulation, and pleasure” through relating the history of the poppers industry and the people behind it, Deep Sniff is packed with lucidly presented research, illuminating personal anecdotes, and a sense of pride and pleasure.
Zmith’s revealing accounts of eccentric nineteenth-century scientists in France, mid-twentieth-century doctors in America, and 1970s gay culture and 1980s police raids in Britain provide a unique way to look at the intersection of law, capitalism, identity, sex, and how we experience our bodies, alongside being a must-read for anyone interested in queer culture.
Joanne Owen
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Deep Sniff A History of Poppers and Queer Futures Synopsis
3, 2, 1... inhale, deep. From the Victorian infirmary and the sex clubs of the 1970s, poppers vapour has released the queer potential inside us all.
This is the intriguing story of how poppers wafted out of the lab and into gay bars, corner shops, bedrooms and porn supercuts. Blending historical research with wry observation, Adam Zmith explores the cultural forces and improbable connections behind the power of poppers.
What emerges is not just a history of pub raids, viral panics and pecs the size of dinner plates. It is a collection of fresh and provocative ideas about identity, sex, utopia, capitalism, law, freedom and the bodies that we use to experience the world.
In Deep Sniff, what starts as a thoughtful enquiry into poppers becomes a manifesto for pleasure.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781913462420 |
| Publication date: |
14th September 2021 |
| Author: |
Adam Zmith |
| Publisher: |
Repeater Books an imprint of Watkins Media |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
180 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Health & Fitness
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| Other Genres: |
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Press Reviews
Adam Zmith Press Reviews
A pharmacornucopia of sensory pleasures, Adam Zmith's Deep Sniff is an entire queer curriculum opened up by poppers.
Absorbing, riotous, keenly-researched and utterly celebratory, Deep Sniff is exactly the kind of queer history we need right now! Through the heady prism of poppers, Zmith explores the queer body with such curiosity and nuance - and explodes just how very political and ongoing the search for autonomous pleasure really is.
A fascinating, joyful social and personal history of an underrated drug. Zmith manages to capture not just the intriguing story of poppers and their role in queer life, but also something of their ineffable chemical pleasure.
Adam Zmith's Deep Sniff is a fascinating dive into the history of a common, yet rarely remarked upon part of gay male life in the late 20th and early 20th century: poppers. Deftly intermingling history, personal experience, and cultural commentary, Deep Sniff is a remarkable addition to queer history.
A book on poppers and its dilated pleasures is long-overdue. Knowledgeable and naughty, Deep Sniff is a giddy, unashamed rush that doesn't need to be kept in the fridge after opening.
