“[A book of] centered wisdom and muscular rationality.” — Paula Fass , Washington Times
“[A]n important and brave book. . . . [Kincaid’s] fine-tuned b.s. detector makes this book required reading for journalists, practicing therapists and their clients, and other professionals directly contributing to the discourse of child molesting. Cultural studies scholars in media studies, popular culture, and children’s literature and culture will find themselves both highly entertained and theoretically adrift.” — Elizabeth Freeman , American Literature
“[D]elightfully irreverent . . . . Kincaid’s work is scholarly and daring in its questioning of strategies we use to hide our eroticization, fetishization and ultimately our ‘molestation’ of children. His study will, no doubt, provoke the scandal he hoped for from the outset.” — Barbra Churchill , Canadian Review of Comparative Literature
“[O]ne is presented with intriguing aphorisms, metaphoric argumentation, and challenging assertions that cast doubt on common assumptions. . . . — Donald J. West , Archives of Sexual Behavior
“[W]itty, . . . well-researched and intelligent.” — Judith Grant , Theory & Event
“Fascinating and thoughtful . . . . Kincaid’s ideas deserve a fair hearing and consideration.” — Richard P. Kluft , JAMA
“Kincaid’s most trenchant (and bravely comic) pages take up the dream of child seduction that Victorian writers like Lewis Carroll initiated and follow it into contemporary narratives.” — Marina Warner , Voice Literary Supplement
“There is much in Erotic Innocence that is provoking, annoying, and amusing. . . .” — James Campbell , New York Times Book Review
“A stunning and stinging book—more than entertaining, it is medicinal. This is Kincaid at his powerful, funny, learned, and sinuous best.” — Nina Auerbach, author of Our Vampires, Ourselves
“Brave, wise, original, and exuberantly engaging, Erotic Innocence really does intervene in the contemporary cultural scene, both exposing its hypocritical awfulness and articulating models for a world in which children and adults could live much more happily than we do now. A brilliant and humane piece of cultural criticism.” — Joseph Litvak, author of Strange Gourmets