The official release date for American Ecstasy is October 1, 2012, just in time for Christmas.
We'll be accepting pre-release orders soon. If you want us to let you know when you can place your order, please .
AMERICAN ECSTASY is a memoir in pictures and words of the twelve years photographer Barbara Nitke spent shooting stills on porn movie sets in New York City. The book takes place in the 1980's at the end of the Golden Age of Porn.
Nitke's images and stories reveal the contradictions inherent in the business — great beauty, tinged with sadness, punctuated by surreal silliness. Among the porn stars featured are Ron Jeremy, Vanessa del Rio, Nina Hartley, Sharon Mitchell, Sharon Kane, Siobhan Hunter, Jeanna Fine, Damian Cashmere, Tasha Voux, and many more. Directors include Henri Pachard, Candida Royalle, Lasse Braun and others.
Essay by Arthur C. Danto, Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University and former art critic for The Nation.
First edition printing of 1,500 copies
Hardcover, 132 pages with 68 color plates
Book design by Svenja Knoedler, buro svenja
Offset printed in Germany by Peter Pomp GmbH
Click here to buy the book through the Pierrot Press sellers account on Amazon
Also available at St. Mark's Bookshop, NYC
and Dashwood Books, NYC
Reviews & Articles
"A beautifully produced coffee-table book with superb color photographs."
Gene Mirabelli, Critical Pages
"Sexy and beautiful."
Christian Storm, Vice Magazine
"Nitke’s work enlightens us about the true nature of people who dare to be sexually deviant."
Karly Sciortino, Slutever
"As vital as Robert Mapplethorpe’s work in the artistic documentation of human sexuality."
Catherine Gigante-Brown, PVV Online
"Nitke does not glamorize pornography, but she seems to relish capturing moments of real beauty in a context many would consider debased."
Nathan C. Martin, Room 220
"Woven throughout the book are humor, sadness, jealousy, boredom, inocence, naivete - all the messiness and the glory of the human condition."
Steve Lenius, Lavender Life
A great accomplisment."
Dr. Marty Klein, Sexual Intelligence
Available at St. Mark's Bookshop, NYCDashwood Books, NYC
and on Amazon.com