Halsted Playing Halsted

Halsted Plays Himself, published by Semiotext(e), is artist William E. Jones's first stand-alone research book, a rich and rewarding excavation of a blazing moment in the early 1970s when American filmgoers flocked to porn cinemas; when sexual and racial activism might be perpetrated in popular cinema; when media empires might be forged from elbow grease. Such was the case for pornographer Fred Halsted (1941-1989), who became a celebrity with his very first feature, L. A. Plays Itself (1972), for which he served as writer, director and star.

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