Contemporary Authors

• Last Time: Labour's Lessons from the Sixties Bellew (London, England), 1997
• The Diversity Hoax: Law Students Report from Berkeley Foundation for Academic Standards & Tradition (New York, NY), 1999
• Making It on Broadway: Actors' Tales of Climbing to the Top Allworth Press (New York, NY), 2004

1. Making it on Broadway : actors' tales of climbing to the top https://lccn.loc.gov/2003024694 Wienir, David. Making it on Broadway : actors' tales of climbing to the top / David Wienir and Jodie Langel . New York : Allworth Press, 2004. xvii, 267 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. PN2277.N5 W48 2004 ISBN: 1581153465 (pbk.) 2. Last time : Labour's lessons from the sixties https://lccn.loc.gov/98115515 Mitchell, Austin Vernon, 1934- Last time : Labour's lessons from the sixties / Austin Mitchell and David Wienir. London : Bellew Pub., 1997. 245 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. JN1129.L32 M557 1997 ISBN: 1857251202 3. The diversity hoax : law students report from Berkeley https://lccn.loc.gov/99218279 The diversity hoax : law students report from Berkeley / edited by David Wienir and Marc Berley. New York, N.Y. : Foundation for Academic Standards & Tradition, c1999. ix, 184 p. ; 22 cm. KF292.C354 D58 1999

• Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey Into The Red Light District - 2018 De Wallen Press, https://smile.amazon.com/Amsterdam-Exposed-Americans-Journey-District/dp/0999355902/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1537331238&sr=8-1&keywords=Wienir%2C+David

• Entertainment Law Exposed - http://www.entlawexposed.com/instructor+bio

  Instructor Bio

  David Wienir

  David Wienir is a talent lawyer, author and business affairs executive at United Talent Agency. Before UTA, David practiced law at two of the top talent boutiques — Grubman, Indursky & Shire in New York and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown in Beverly Hills — where he represented many A List celebrities and artists including Spielberg and Madonna. He was also an intellectual property and First Amendment lawyer with the 150+ year old international law firm Coudert Brothers in New York.

  He has been awarded the Outstanding Volunteer Award from Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, named a “Rising Star” in 2009 and 2010 by Super Lawyers Magazine, and named to Variety’s 2014 Legal Impact Report. He is the author of several acclaimed books including “Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey Into The Red Light District” and “Making It on Broadway: Actors’ Tales of Climbing to the Top” (foreword by Jason Alexander from Seinfeld). His first book “Last Time: Labour’s Lessons from the Sixties” was co-authored at the age of 23 with a Member of British Parliament.

  David has taught entertainment law for 10+ years, including at NYU and The New York Institute of Technology, and currently teaches at UCLA. He was educated at Columbia, Oxford, The London School of Economics and Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall).

  Before beginning his career as an entertainment lawyer, he was the host of the talk radio show “Estonia Today” on Estonia National Radio, worked within the Governor of California’s legal affairs office, and worked for the LA District Attorney’s office during the Menendez murder trial. Also, he worked as a speechwriter and staff member for a Member of British Parliament, as a researcher for The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and as a statistician for CBS Sports. He is a graduate of ARTA’s professional whitewater river rafting school in Idaho and guided river trips for several years in California and Oregon, and is a founder and the first musical director of “The Oxford Alternotives”, Oxford University’s oldest a cappella close harmony group.

  ENTERTAINMENT LAW EXPOSED

  THE PREMIER ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT LAW CLASS

• Linked In - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-wienir-2904619/

  David Wienir
  David Wienir 3rd degree connection3rd
  UTA Business Affairs Executive, UCLA Instructor and Author of Amsterdam Exposed & Making It On Broadway
  Beverly Hills, California
  See contact info
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  David Wienir is a business affairs executive at United Talent Agency, UCLA Extension Instructor, and author of four books. Before UTA, he practiced law at two of the top transactional talent boutiques where he represented many A List clients and celebrities, including Spielberg and Madonna. He was also a First Amendment lawyer in New York with the 150+ year old international law firm Coudert Brothers. He has been awarded the “Outstanding Volunteer Award” from Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, named a Rising Star in 2009 and 2010 by Super Lawyers Magazine, and named to Variety's 2014 Legal Impact Report. He is the author of several acclaimed books including "Amsterdam Exposed" (Grand Prize winner of the 2018 Hollywood Book Festival) and "Making It on Broadway" (foreword by Jason Alexander). His first book "Last Time" was co-authored at the age of 23 with a member of British Parliament.

  He has taught entertainment law for 17+ years, including at NYU and UCLA, and is the founder of the premier online entertainment law class Entertainment Law Exposed. He was educated at Columbia, Oxford, The LSE, Berkeley Law, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and is admitted to practice law in New York and California.

  Before beginning his career as an entertainment lawyer, he was the host of the talk radio show "Estonia Today" on Estonia National Radio, worked within the Governor of California’s legal affairs office, and worked for the LA District Attorney’s office during the Menendez murder trial. Also, he worked as a speechwriter and staff member for a Member of British Parliament, as a researcher for The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, and as a statistician for CBS Sports. He is a graduate of ARTA’s professional whitewater river rafting school in Idaho and guided river trips for several years in California and Oregon, and is a founder and the first musical director of "The Oxford Alternotives", Oxford University's oldest a cappella close harmony group.
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  Experience

  United Talent Agency
  Business Affairs Executive
  Company Name United Talent Agency
  Dates Employed 2011 – Present
  Employment Duration 7 yrs
  Location Beverly Hills, California

  (Beverly Hills) Primary responsibilities include negotiating talent and literary agreements and providing legal guidance in all areas of the entertainment industry, including, without limitation, film, television (scripted and reality), music, stage, book publishing, digital media, intellectual property, independent film finance and sales, computer and video games, commercials, voiceovers, endorsements, personal appearances, branding and licensing, consulting and entertainment marketing.
  UCLA Extension
  Instructor, Entertainment Studies and Performing Arts Department
  Company Name UCLA Extension
  Dates Employed 2008 – Present
  Employment Duration 10 yrs
  Location Los Angeles, California

  Courses: Legal Primer for the Entertainment Business; Legal and Practical Aspects of the Music Business
  Entertainment Law Exposed
  Instructor & Founder
  Company Name Entertainment Law Exposed
  Dates Employed Apr 2013 – Present
  Employment Duration 5 yrs 6 mos
  Location www.entertainmentlawexposed.com

  The premier online entertainment law class. Specifically created for producers, writers, actors, managers and agents, as well as lawyers, the invaluable and career changing information in this class will empower students at all levels in ways never before possible. Featuring over 100 multimedia and interactive videos by an expert in the field spanning over 14 hours a... See more
  This media is a video
  Introductory Video
  Introductory Video
  Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc.
  Talent Lawyer
  Company Name Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc.
  Dates Employed 2007 – 2010
  Employment Duration 3 yrs

  (Beverly Hills) Broad-based transactional practice at top entertainment law firm.
  Grubman Indursky & Shire, P.C.
  Talent Lawyer
  Company Name Grubman Indursky & Shire, P.C.
  Dates Employed 2006 – 2007
  Employment Duration 1 yr

  (New York City) Broad-based transactional practice at top entertainment law firm.
  New York University
  Adjunct Instructor, Tisch School of the Arts
  Company Name New York University
  Dates Employed 2006 – 2007
  Employment Duration 1 yr

  Required Undergraduate Senior Year Courses: Senior Colloquium; Legal Issues in Recorded Music
  New York Institute of Technology
  Adjunct Professor, Communication Arts
  Company Name New York Institute of Technology
  Dates Employed 2004 – 2005
  Employment Duration 1 yr
  Location New York City

  Graduate School Course: Media and the Law
  Coudert Brothers
  Intellectual Property, First Amendment and Litigation Attorney
  Company Name Coudert Brothers
  Dates Employed 2000 – 2005
  Employment Duration 5 yrs

  (New York City) Broad-based intellectual property, First Amendment and litigation practice at 150+ year old law firm, specializing in media law, defamation, copyright, trademark, right of publicity and privacy, unfair competition, contract and music law. Extensive experience conducting pre-publication reviews for leading New York book publishers. Success... See more
  American River Touring Association
  Professional Whitewater River Rafting Guide
  Company Name American River Touring Association
  Dates Employed 1993 – 2000
  Employment Duration 7 yrs

  Attended ARTA's 15 day intensive professional guide school in Idaho (1993)
  Guided river trips in Idaho, Oregon and California.
  USC Shoah Foundation Institute
  Researcher/Cataloguer
  Company Name USC Shoah Foundation Institute
  Dates Employed 1997 – 1997
  Employment Duration less than a year

  (Los Angeles)

  Education

  University of California, Berkeley - School of Law
  University of California, Berkeley - School of Law

  Degree Name J.D. (Boalt Hall)

  Field Of Study Honors in Entertainment Law

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1997 – 2000

  Exchange Student at The Vrije University, Holland (Dispute Resolution) - 1999
  Law Clerk, Legal Affairs Office of the Governor of California (Sacramento, CA) - 1998
  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam)
  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam)

  Degree Name Certificate

  Field Of Study Law

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1999 – 1999
  London School of Economics and Political Science
  London School of Economics and Political Science

  Degree Name M.Sc.

  Field Of Study Public Administration and Public Policy

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1995 – 1996
  Columbia University in the City of New York
  Columbia University in the City of New York

  Degree Name B.A.

  Field Of Study Political Science (cum laude and departmental honors)

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1991 – 1995

  Postgraduate Eesti Fellowship (University of Tartu, Estonia) - 1995
  Oxford-Cambridge Scholar (University of Oxford, England)
  University of Oxford
  University of Oxford

  Field Of Study PPE

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1993 – 1994

  Activities and Societies: Founder and first musical director of "The Oxford Alternotives", Oxford University's oldest a cappella close harmony music group. Oxford Ice Hockey Team; Crew.

  Member, Oxford Union Debating Society
  Harvard School (Now Harvard-Westlake)
  Harvard School (Now Harvard-Westlake)

  Degree Name Diploma

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1985 – 1991

  AFS Intercultural Programs (Dijon and Estissac, France) - 1990
  L.A. Ulpan (Petah Tikva and Jerusalem, Israel) - 1989
  The Mirman School
  The Mirman School

  Dates attended or expected graduation 1979 – 1985

  Volunteer Experience

  Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
  Volunteer Lawyer
  Company Name Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
  Dates volunteered Jan 2000 – Dec 2005 Volunteer duration 6 yrs
  Cause Arts and Culture

  Provided volunteer legal services to artists. Recipient of the VLA Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2005.

  Skills & Endorsements

  Trademarks
  See 64 endorsements for Trademarks 64

  Endorsed by 3 of David’s colleagues at United Talent Agency

  Entertainment
  See 56 endorsements for Entertainment 56

  Endorsed by Julie Nguyen and 4 others who are highly skilled at this

  Endorsed by 2 of David’s colleagues at United Talent Agency

  Music Industry
  See 51 endorsements for Music Industry 51

  Endorsed by 3 of David’s colleagues at United Talent Agency

  Industry Knowledge

  Video
  See 41 endorsements for Video 41

  Intellectual Property
  See 37 endorsements for Intellectual Property 37

  Licensing
  See 36 endorsements for Licensing 36

  Privacy Law
  See 29 endorsements for Privacy Law 29

  Radio
  See 24 endorsements for Radio 24

  Publishing
  See 18 endorsements for Publishing 18

  Feature Films
  See 17 endorsements for Feature Films 17

  Publicity
  See 15 endorsements for Publicity 15

  Broadcast
  See 14 endorsements for Broadcast 14

  Commercials
  See 13 endorsements for Commercials 13

  International Law
  See 11 endorsements for International Law 11

  Documentaries
  See 10 endorsements for Documentaries 10

  Content Strategy
  See 10 endorsements for Content Strategy 10

  Screenwriting
  See 10 endorsements for Screenwriting 10

  Research
  See 9 endorsements for Research 9

  Media Production
  See 8 endorsements for Media Production 8

  Trials
  See 7 endorsements for Trials 7

  Recording
  See 7 endorsements for Recording 7

  Entrepreneurship
  See 6 endorsements for Entrepreneurship 6

  Advertising
  See 6 endorsements for Advertising 6

  Post Production
  See 6 endorsements for Post Production 6

  Mergers & Acquisitions
  See 5 endorsements for Mergers & Acquisitions 5

  Tools & Technologies

  Microsoft Office
  See 5 endorsements for Microsoft Office 5

  Interpersonal Skills

  Dispute Resolution
  See 22 endorsements for Dispute Resolution 22

  Negotiation
  See 10 endorsements for Negotiation 10

  Management
  See 6 endorsements for Management 6

  Other Skills

  Entertainment Law
  See 24 endorsements for Entertainment Law 24

  Entertainment Industry
  See 20 endorsements for Entertainment Industry 20

  Media & Entertainment
  See 16 endorsements for Media & Entertainment 16

  Social Networking
  See 14 endorsements for Social Networking 14

  Producing
  See 4 endorsements for Producing 4

  Accomplishments
  David has 3 publications 3
  Publications

  Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey Into The Red Light District Making It on Broadway: Actors' Tales of Climbing to the Top Last Time: Labour's Lessons from the Sixties

  David has 1 course 1
  Course

  Entertainment Law Exposed

  Interests

  Harvard-Westlake Alumni
  Harvard-Westlake Alumni

  1,800 members
  Columbia Alumni Association Network
  Columbia Alumni Association Network

  51,440 members
  Parliament - House of Commons / House of Lords
  Parliament - House of Commons / House of Lords

  5,549 members
  United Talent Agency
  United Talent Agency

  37,547 followers
  The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
  The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

  336,782 followers
  UCLA Extension
  UCLA Extension

  23,042 followers

• Amsterdam Exposed - http://www.amsterdamexposed.com/author.html

  Before becoming a lawyer, he was a professional river rafting guide, a speechwriter in the British House of Commons, and a host of Estonia Today on Estonia National Radio. He is also a founder and the first musical director of the Oxford Alternotives, Oxford University’s oldest a cappella close harmony group. He was educated at Columbia, Oxford, The LSE, Berkeley Law, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and is married to Dr. Dina, a pioneer of the medical cannabis movement and the inspiration for the Nancy Botwin character in the show Weeds. They live in West Hollywood with their teacup Brazilian Yorkie named Lola.

  AMSTERDAM EXPOSED

  AN AMERICAN'S JOURNEY INTO THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT

  ​By David Wienir | De Wallen Press

  CLICK HERE TO

  FOLLOW AMSTERDAM EXPOSED

  ON FACEBOOK

  David Wienir is a business affairs executive at United Talent Agency and entertainment law instructor at UCLA Extension. Before UTA, he practiced law at two of the top entertainment law firms where he represented clients such as Steven Spielberg and Madonna. This is his fourth book. Previous books include Last Time: Labour’s Lessons from the Sixties (co-authored with a Member of Parliament at the age of 23), The Diversity Hoax: Law Students Report from Berkeley (afterword by Dennis Prager), and Making It on Broadway: Actors’ Tales of Climbing to the Top (foreword by Jason Alexander).

• UCLA Extension - https://www.uclaextension.edu/instructors/david-wienir

  David Wienir is a talent lawyer and author, Business Affairs Executive, United Talent Agency. Before UTA, Mr. Wienir practiced law at two of the top talent boutiques in the world where he represented Steven Spielberg and Madonna. He has been awarded the Outstanding Volunteer Award from Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, named a “Rising Star” in 2009 and 2010 by Super Lawyers Magazine, and named to Variety's 2014 Legal Impact Report. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Making It on Broadway. Mr. Wienir was educated at Columbia University, Oxford, The London School of Economics, and UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall).

• The Amsterdammer - https://theamsterdammer.org/2018/05/18/avenue/art/

  An Interview with David Wienir, Author of Amsterdam Exposed, a Journey Around the Red Light District

  May 18, 2018

  David Wienir, a writer and entertainment lawyer, presented his book, Amsterdam Exposed, yesterday (18th of May) in the Dutch capital. Amsterdam Exposed narrates the story about a 26-year-old American exchange student in Amsterdam in 1999. As Wienir describes it, this is a nonjudgmental book that shows an innocent perspective about Amsterdam and the Red Light District, but also a really personal story.
  IMG_7079

  Staff Photographer / Yunfu Duan

  Despite telling a story that happened almost 20 years ago, the book addresses a subject that will always be relevant: prostitution. The author says that the timing of publication was perfect, especially taking the sex work regulations that are currently happening in both Holland and in America into account.

  The Amsterdammer interviewed Wienir to get more insights on the book, the author, and the Red Light District.

  You came here 20 years ago, how does it feel to return to promote your book?

  It’s been very surprising and beautiful reception we’ve had here, it’s been great. I didn’t think, at first, that I would have any local reception walking around the district and letting them know [the sex workers] about the book. A couple of days ago I just decided to do that and the response was very surprising. The girls [of the Red Light District] are very excited [about the story]. I basically asked them if they speak English and if they like reading and then I said: Hey! I have something for you, I’d love you to read this book that just came out this week. It’s about a story in Amsterdam between an American and a girl who worked right here. […] One of the girls started crying and that was something I wasn’t expecting. It’s exciting for me that this book is not only going to be something that Americans read, but also people are going to have a conversation here in Holland too.
  IMG_7064

  Staff Photographer / Yunfu Duan

  Why publish this book now, 20 years after your exchange?

  It’s a delicate subject to write about. It’s not a politically correct world, it’s a taboo, it’s a subject that makes people uncomfortable in the community that I’m in [United States], I’m a business affairs executive on a major talent agency. It was a promise I made to a girl that I was not going to let this go. It was a story I felt needed to be told but I wasn’t gonna publish it until I was able to find my voice, and I think a big part of it, was getting married […] that opened up a whole new side of me of being able to really put myself into the book in the way that I needed to.
  IMG_7083

  Staff Photographer / Yunfu Duan

  What brought you to Amsterdam for an exchange?

  I did my undergraduate in Oxford and my master’s degree in the London School of Economics and I studied in Estonia and lived in France, so I started off thinking that Europe was always gonna be part of my existence. When I went to law school […] the idea was to go to California, go to Berkeley, go get a degree in law and then become an international lawyer. One of the main things that brought me back to Holland, and made sense as a young international lawyer, [was that] this is the center of international law. […] There was a great exchange program in the VU Amsterdam, so [that was] what brought me back to Amsterdam.

  But really, it was to write this book. At that time I had already seen myself as a writer […] so when I came to Amsterdam I identified myself more as a writer than I identified myself even as a lawyer and it was with that focus that I kind of designed my four months here.

  How did you perceive Amsterdam before you came here?

  It was interesting, the first time I ever came here it was in 1993 and that was when I was an undergraduate in England. I just found my journal from that trip and it was unbelievable, I hadn’t tried cannabis at the time, I walked through the district really fast, I was terrified by what I saw, I couldn’t believe the way the men were treating the women in the windows, as shocking as it was to see the women standing there. It was really not a place I thought I’d return to. I automatically felt at home here and I think there are two kinds of people in the world: People who come to Amsterdam and feel connected with the city or don’t. I’m definitely one of those people that the second I came, it just felt different than being in London, Paris or any other place where I might have lived.
  Staff Photographer / Yunfu Duan
  Staff Photographer / Yunfu Duan

  What intrigued you about the Red Light District? Why write about it?

  I was kind of in shock as a young writer that no one had ever done something like this. It’s one of the biggest attractions in the world. Americans come and they have their experiences and then even talking about it was kind of taboo. That was one of the things that really make me recognize there’s a journey here that people should be able to do, a nonjudgmental one, that hopefully helps to shape the conversation.

  The book’s really a love letter to Amsterdam. It’s focused on a very special friendship that I developed with one of the beautiful girls who works right in the heart of the district. It’s as much of a love letter to Amsterdam, as it is to an American or anyone abroad. Being in a new culture and being free. Seeing yourself differently. In the book, there’s a transformation with the woman who helped me write it, but there’s a transformation for me too.

  How did you attempt to avoid the harmful stereotypes of sex workers? And how did you try to simultaneously give an accurate representation of how Amsterdam citizens still perceive them?

  I think for me it was a bit of a transformation. At first, in the book, like anyone who walks through the district, people are seemingly two-dimensional. Everyone is, and I think that’s what makes the world dangerous. There’s a line in the book where I talk about the parallels between the prostitution in Holland and internet dating in America and just how disposable people have become. There are this two-dimensional pictures and that’s that. […] I think one of the ways that I hope this book really helps get beyond this stereotypes is just by sharing an innocent relationship in a place that one wouldn’t find one. Redefining how we see ourselves. There are not only stereotypes that we put on women, but stereotypes that we place in ourselves too. There’s a great line in the book that says “Life perspective is all based on the cages that we’re all held captive in”.

  The book was just trying, at the end of the day, to show the humanity there and […] allow people […] to see the women differently. At the very least have some respect and as a society, there’s nothing we can do to stop women from working there, but there’s a lot we can do as a society not to condemn them.

Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey into the Red Light District
Publishers Weekly.
265.22 (May 28, 2018): p91. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey into the Red Light District David Wienir. De Wallen, $12.95 trade paper (264p) ISBN 978-0-9993559-0-9
In this uneven memoir, entertainment lawyer and author (Making It on Broadway) Wienir shares the events of his 1999 journey to Amsterdam, where he spent his last semester of law school. He aims to "take readers on a journey deeper into [Amsterdam's red-light] district than they could ever go before." But Wienir, writing from the point of view of the 26-year-old he was, has a more personal and idealistic agenda as he searches for a woman who works as a prostitute to guide him through the district. He meets a young woman named Emma who agrees to guide him, hoping "to restore [her] self-worth" and perhaps change her life. Wienir gives the reader a sense of the district's "addictive" power ("There was a sense of immediacy, a feeling it might be the last night on Earth"), as well as its hard-nosed business rules ("Never ask for a discount. ... Agree on when the clock starts ticking"). Wienir's book, however, becomes less about the district and more about his obsession with Emma, with whom he felt "a connection from the second we met," although he never became her customer. Emma eventually left her work as a prostitute, got engaged, and had a daughter, and she and Wienir fell out of touch. Wienir's is an honest though naive look into the workings of Amsterdam's redlight district, and an earnest though juvenile search for love. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey into the Red Light District." Publishers Weekly,
28 May 2018, p. 91. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A541638864/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=90bc5965. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A541638864
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Last Time: Labour's Lessons from
the Sixties
Peter Catterall
History Today.
48.2 (Feb. 1998): p52+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 1998 History Today Ltd. http://www.historytoday.com/about-us
Full Text:
Bellew Publishing
246 pp. 9.95 [pounds sterling] ISBN: 1857525 120 2
The late 1950s saw the start of a wave of criticism of
Britain's society and economic performance. Subsequently modernisation was to he much debated in the inner circles
of both major parties before the 1964 election. Such ambitions have, however, generally been seen as leading nowhere.
The political elites of the
period have repeatedly been
portrayed as unequal to the
task of charting a new course
for a Britain being outstripped
economically by its competitors
and saddled with an array of
overseas commitments it could
no longer meet. The years
when, according to Jefferys,
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`the rot set in', the 1950s, are thus crucial to exploring the history of Britain in the twentieth century, an age of smug complacency, wasted years like the 1930s, but for very different reasons, an age of affluence which was not so much the
years the locusts ate as the era
of the lotus eaters.
Despite the availability of government documents for the period, and the alleged significance of the `Thirteen Wasted
Years' of Tory rule in explaining Britain's decline, this problematic decade nevertheless
remains neglected. New attention to the failings of the early postwar decades is therefore to be welcomed, even if its main effect is simply to reinforce received wisdom with better footnotes. Robert Pearce's
Attlee is a Victorian who stays
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on as party leader too long, a view with which Jefferys seems to concur. Disarray and lack of adjustment to the changing realities of Britain's situation accordingly reigned on the Labour benches in the 1950s. Meanwhile the Tory ministers they opposed, Jefferys
argues, `Rather than facing up
to the challenge posed by much stiffer international competition... opted for temporary tax palliatives designed for political gain'. Nor was modernisation effectively pursued under the succeeding Wilson government, according to Mitchell and
Wienir. Instead of a clear strategic vision all the hard decisions
were eventually forced upon
them by events.
Mitchell and Wienir's offering
is very much an account
from within the Labour Party,
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concerned as much with the
lessons from and the challenges
of 1997 as with the record of
1964-70. Both the invention of
New Labour and the perceived
failures of the Wilson years provoke considerable debate in its
pages as to the purpose of the
Labour Party. Ironically emblazoned with a poster captioned,
`Labour will get things done',
Wilson's Labour emerges as a
party with no clear sense of
why or how it was to achieve
this. Jefferys, meanwhile, hints
at a more general loss of a
sense of purpose and direction, illustrated with interesting
quotes from Archbishop Fisher
which show that Mrs Thatcher
was by no means the first Conservative prime minister to
have a fraught relationship with
the Church of England.
Attlee, in contrast, had no
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such problems over his purpose
in politics. In Robert
Pearce's study, his was a paternalistic socialism encapsulated
in `the motive of service'. Yet such motives were no less important to many others of all parties whose careers began in the early twentieth century, such as Stanley Baldwin. What matters surely is how these principles are translated into practice, something which a book in the Profiles in Power series might be expected more explicitly to address: not least because the considerable thought Attlee gave to the machinery of government. Apart from some comments on the frustration of working with Churchill, it is largely passed over here.
In the end, despite the succinctness and readability of this
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account, how and why Attlee thought power should be used
thus remains as much an
enigma as the man himself, in
so far as Pearce resolves either
of these conundrums it is by presenting a rather different
Attlee from the model prime minister of some recent
accounts. Generally, we are
told, `he was the leader who followed', a formulation which leaves some doubt as to what
the `unique niche in British
political history' Pearce finally ascribes to Attlee actually is.
Attlee certainly failed to scale
down Britain's defence commitments in the period 194647.
Despite repeated reappraisals, a major adjustment
was not made until 1967-68. The resulting defence burden, although long a favourite amongst the apparent causes of
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British decline, scarcely figures
in these accounts, it is barely mentioned in Jefferys, who concentrates almost exclusively on domestic politics, and there
are only a few scattered references in Mitchell and Wienir.
But then the latter is in no
sense an analysis of the Wilson years, instead the book essentially consists of extracts from
interviews with forty-five more
or less well-placed witnesses to
the period.
The result is a series of
vignettes -- some illuminating, other banal. Placing on record
the views of various individuals, most of whom have not contributed to the plethora of
memoirs on the period, is potentially illuminating. But
the extracts are allowed to
stand alone, without even an
index to help the reader
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through the book. The result
provides as many contradictions
as lessons. For instance,
key elements in Wilson's modernisation plans were the innovation
of the Department of
Economic Affairs and the Ministry
of Technology, yet both are
execrated here by Edmund
Dell. And whilst one of the brief editorial interventions argues
that Wilson's failure was not
planning clearly in government
and not getting the dirty work (devaluation) out of the way
first, several contributors make
clear why, in their view, that
was not an option. Even if it
had been, it is not clear that modernisation under Wilson
would have been any more
effective.
Jefferys, meanwhile, clearly
feels that modernisation was no
more effective under their Conservative
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predecessors. He
acknowledges the various initiatives of the Macmillan years -- Robbins, Beeching or incomes
policy -- but dismisses them as
too little too late. Welfare policy
is portrayed as an uneasy compromise between electoral imperatives and fiscal preferences that undermined the
legitimacy of the Welfare State.
And the overall thrust of policy
is depicted as similarly short-termist, a pursuit of consumer
affluence. Even this, in the end,
is seen as a failure in the light
of the middle-class dissatisfaction
of the early 1960s.
My problem with A of this is
that it seems to be assumed
rather than examined. So affluence tends to be condemned
whilst the economic effects of
the tax policies that contributed toward it go unexplored.
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Inflation is seen as a
corollary of the electorally driven pursuit of affluence,
though not as a price paid for
full employment; and the fact
that the government was concerned about that price, leading
in the end to the elaboration
of a labour market strategy
in the early 1960s, goes largely unacknowledged.
Other initiatives, such as
regional or science policy, are neglected. The difficulty of achieving sustained expansion
of the economy is remarked,
but whether this reflected
structural problems or the
internal contradictions of
policy is not examined. Indeed,
the context in which British politics and policy operated is
only partially sketched in and
the international background is frequently not even an off-stage
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noise. Meanwhile, despite the citations from ministerial sources, the measure used here of Tory success or failure is not their own objectives but the views of their contemporary critics.
The result is a book which is much less than it might have been. Long familiar views, uncritically presented, dictate
the treatment of well-trodden avenues. For instance, in the chapter on the Welfare State, little thought is given to social security, despite its current topicality and the interesting new work in this area in recent
years. And the discussion of education is largely concerned with supposed elitism rather
than training policy or curriculum reform. This is not to
attempt to whitewash the Conservatives, but to log an
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opportunity missed. A broader analysis might indeed produce a more devastating critique. Instead Jefferys offers us more a rehash than a reappraisal of the period.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Catterall, Peter. "Last Time: Labour's Lessons from the Sixties." History Today, Feb. 1998, p.
52+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A20368619 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=69bb00e5. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A20368619
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Wienir, David: AMSTERDAM EXPOSED
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 1, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Wienir, David AMSTERDAM EXPOSED De Wallen Press (Indie Nonfiction) $9.97 5, 1 ISBN: 978-0-9993559-0-9
A memoir chronicling the education of a naive American law school exchange student in Amsterdam in the late 1990s.
In a book that the author describes as part tragicomedy, part "survival guide," Hollywood entertainment attorney Wienir (Making It on Broadway, 2004, etc.) chronicles his experiences during his third year at the University of California, Berkeley, law school, during which he moved to the Netherlands for a four-month semester. Although the purpose of his sojourn was to get legal experience abroad, Wienir also had intentions to write a book about Amsterdam's notorious red-light district. He was hoping to dispel widespread misconceptions about it and offer a closer look into the area and its workers. After several weeks of culture shock, he learned a lot more than just the Dutch language. The wonderfully curious author describes the city as a "wonderland" of cannabis coffee shops, bicycle culture, and historical regions. He offers accounts of his adventures attempting to chat up sex workers for his book project (most rejected his offer) and excitedly befriending new drinking buddies. But he also offers astute observations, opinions, and an insider's perspective on Amsterdam's city-sanctioned prostitution. He brings his stories of sex workers--such as Emma, with whom he became emotionally connected--to vivid life with recollections of impassioned conversation and well-meaning friendship, and the overall tone never lapses into pity or judgment. Overall, Wienir is a delightfully frank tour guide, uniquely describing the district (including its 10 unspoken "commandments") and drawing readers deep inside its sexy, neon-lit world. However, this book is not for the timid; the author doesn't skimp on the details of his subjects' professional escapades, nor does he underplay the emotional impact of his time in Amsterdam.
A provocative, enlightening, humorous, and impressively executed guide to Amsterdam's twilight world.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Wienir, David: AMSTERDAM EXPOSED." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2018. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528959678/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=b4499f0e. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
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Gale Document Number: GALE|A528959678
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Allworth Press
Library Bookwatch.
(Sept. 2004): From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Allworth Press." Library Bookwatch, Sept. 2004. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A123926271/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=d457a662. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A123926271
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"Amsterdam Exposed: An American's Journey into the Red Light District." Publishers Weekly, 28 May 2018, p. 91. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541638864/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=90bc5965. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018. Catterall, Peter. "Last Time: Labour's Lessons from the Sixties." History Today, Feb. 1998, p. 52+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A20368619/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=69bb00e5. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018. "Wienir, David: AMSTERDAM EXPOSED." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2018. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528959678/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=b4499f0e. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018. "Allworth Press." Library Bookwatch, Sept. 2004. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A123926271/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=d457a662. Accessed 19 Sept. 2018.

• Reader's Favorite
  https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/amsterdam-exposed
  Word count: 440

  Amsterdam Exposed
  Amsterdam Exposed
  An American's Journey Into The Red Light District
  by David Wienir
  Non-Fiction - Memoir
  264 Pages
  Reviewed on 09/16/2018
  Buy on Amazon
  Author Biography

  David Wienir is an entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills. This is his fourth book. He was educated at Columbia, Oxford, The LSE, Berkeley Law, and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and is married to Dr. Dina, a pioneer of the medical cannabis movement and the inspiration for the Nancy Botwin character in the show Weeds.

  Book Review

  Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite

  Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey into the Red Light District by David Wienir takes readers into the heart of the red light district to witness powerful encounters and meet the women who work there.

  Entering his third year of law school at Berkeley and about to start a career in international law, the author couldn't be happier when the school agrees to give him a full semester of credit to study in Amsterdam. While this is to give him a break from Berkeley, it ushers him into a world he never expected and this memoir documents, with vivid images and rare poignancy, the author's adventures in this town, especially his experiences in the Red-light District. The reader follow the protagonist in a somewhat coming-of-age odyssey, discovering prostitution in some of the depressed streets of Amsterdam, and learning to cope in a foreign land. Published twenty years after the events related in the book, this memoir is a beautiful light on one of the oldest professions in the world — prostitution.

  David Wienir is a good writer and his prose is tight and crisp. He leaves readers in no doubt that he is a professional writer. From the start of the narrative, we are introduced to the protagonist and to the setting — which comes across the narrative as a character on its own right. And yes, Amsterdam can be read from that perspective. Told in the first person narrative, it is gripping, somewhat hypnotic, with deft exploration of character and a plot structure that makes for an easy read. I enjoyed the beauty of language, the adventure elements of the story, and the social commentaries that offer insights into what Amsterdam felt like twenty years ago. Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey into the Red Light District is enriched by the author’s gift for humor and his ability to evoke powerful images and capture the complex and deep emotional layers of the characters. It is a great read, indeed.

• Cool Cleveland
  https://coolcleveland.com/2018/04/mansfield-amsterdam-exposed-david-wienir/
  Word count: 1134

  MANSFIELD: “Amsterdam Exposed” by David Wienir

  Perhaps at some point in my distant past, I might have read another book from cover-to-cover, but if I did I can’t recall. But since, as they say, the memory goes first, it just may be that I’m in the initial stage of slipping into my dotage. But I certainly hope not.

  Nonetheless, Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey Into the Red Light District by David Wienir, grabbed my attention in the first few pages and refused to let me go. I read it from cover-to-cover on a recent Saturday afternoon and relished every page of it.

  The book is an impressive tour de force, a well-crafted work that is part travel guide, part memoir, and in large part a well-reasoned polemic on a subject that’s at the core of our very being. Wienir set out to humanize the sex workers that have for years stood in the windows of the Red Light District of Amsterdam (one of the most fascinating cities in the world), and he does so with an aplomb and verve that is surely going to raise as many eyebrows as it will have heads nodding in approval.

  After many false starts and dead ends, the author was able to convince Emma, a young sex worker, to allow him to get to know and interview her. The resulting conversations were, by turns, reveling, tender, but above all else humanizing. There’s nothing the least bit exploitive in the conversations between them; instead, the retelling is in fact informative, just as was the other parts of the book that gives armchair travelers true glimpses of a city that is fascinating beyond belief.

  It took Wienir 18 years of on-again, off-again writing to complete this book, and given the somewhat sensitive nature of the subject matter, I can understand why. As an accomplished attorney who has represented some of the biggest names in show business, he is risking the opprobrium of both potential clients and colleagues with this book. In other words, he has real skin in this truth-telling game.

  What? A lawyer writing his flat-out version of truth? What’s the legal profession coming to?

  “There is nothing corporate America likes less than someone trying the change the status quo,” said Wienir, “or worse, someone who strays from the herd.” Using another colloquialism, he has gone way, way off the reservation with this work of nonfiction.

  However, I came very close to not reading the book at all. As a print and radio journalist I literally get dozens of emails a week from publicists asking me to write a review of one of their clients’ books, or have them as a guest on my radio show. Ninety-nine percent of the time I simply pass, and of the one percent of the books I do request a copy of, the vast majority of them I never completely read — and certainly don’t write a review.

  Additionally, I have to admit that the title threw me at first. I certainly didn’t care to waste my time reading a salacious recounting of some dude’s journey through one of the world’s better-known fleshpots. But due to Wienir’s stellar academic credentials, I thought, “What the hell, I’ll have the publicist send me a copy, but my real intention was to play ‘gotcha.’” I wanted to catch this guy writing something that I knew to be total bullshit, so I could wag my journalistic finger in his face and call him a fraudster.

  But man, was I wrong: Wienir never hits a false note, and my life experiences provide me with a basis on which to make valid judgments on the subject matter. For better or worse, I spent a good portion of my callow youth engaging in sexual escapades with women of less than stellar repute. And although I’ve never been to Amsterdam, sex work has a strong component of universality to it. Not for nothing is it the world’s oldest profession. Also, as homo sapiens, we’re keenly interested in the subject, even when we loudly protest otherwise.

  Another reason I ordered a copy of the book was because I’d recently written a screed lambasting the federal government for stupidly throwing the baby out with the bathwater by shutting down Backpages, the online and hardcopy site where sex workers sell their services in the U.S. The excuse was that the site aided in the sexual trafficking of children, which is by and large a myth. Not that such child sex trafficking doesn’t exist; it does, and those responsible should be consigned to the lowest rung of Hell when they are apprehended. They should be placed under the penitentiary, not in it.

  But closing down the sex site because one-tenth of one percent of the ads was questionable and akin to swatting mosquitoes with a sledgehammer. There are better ways to protect vulnerable children, and this largely meaningless gesture is simply a way for society to let itself off the hook. Now we don’t feel compelled to solve the real and systemic problems of financial inequality that are the root cause of the exploitation of children.

  And now these adult sex workers will be driven back to standing on street corners to sell their wares, lowering the quality of life in certain sections of our nation’s cities. No one really thinks that the shuttering of the Backpages site is going to end prostitution, do they? But what will happen is that the number of sex crimes will increase, and in some cases dramatically. It’s a proven fact. When men don’t have a safe — albeit paid — outlet for their lusty desires they often become monsters.

  Wienir does offer up a strong caveat for potential purchasers: “For those politically correct readers, or those easily offended, it is my sincere hope that you will love this book, but be forewarned that it is very real. I didn’t soften the edges — at all. To do so would be inauthentic, and defeat the purpose. I saw what I saw. What happened, happened.”

  Even if the subject matter is personally distasteful to some readers, the level of writing and the philosophical reflections on life still make this book a very worthwhile summer read.

  From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.

• The Square
  http://www.windsorsquare.ca/archives/2018/book-review-amsterdam-exposed/115253
  Word count: 859

  Book Review: Amsterdam Exposed

  By: Robert Stephen (CSW) 23 May 2018

  (TORONTO, ON) – Amsterdam Exposed may perhaps be an overly sensationalist title. But author David Wienir certainly makes it an interesting travelogue and a rather unexpected if not tragic love story.

  Amsterdam may be one of my favourite cities, particularly its old central historic district with its countless canals. Culturally rich it is but there is also a counterculture of drugs and sex both of which are readily available although not quite completely legal.

  Considering Wienir’s background of being a third-year law student at Berkley University in California in Amsterdam to begin a semester of international law one might expect a “golly-gee” approach to prostitution flaunted so openly.

  amsterdam-exposedBut, his previous publications include The Diversity Hoax: Law Students Report From Berkeley and a quote in the preface explaining why it took him 18 years to complete the book rather present that a bug eyed negatively moralistic book is quite what not to expect.

  Wienir writes, “My career had taken me into corporate America with several stints at several prestigious law firms … There is nothing corporate America likes less than someone to change the status quo, or worse, someone who strays from the herd.”

  Wienir wades wide eyed into the Red Light District with a goal of writing a book introducing readers to sex trade women workers and to hear what the industry is like from their perspective. Just about every door is slammed in his face made more difficult by his vow not to pay for stories or have sex with any of the prostitutes.

  Wienir has a knack for telling many an interesting story of the friendships and adventures he has in Amsterdam which on their own make this an interesting travelogue for those who have and have not visited that great city. Having visited the city twice at dissimilar stages of my life it certainly brought back memories for me.

  Wienir’s philosophy that life is a current that transports us here and there often with little control enables him to weather the lack of co-operation he receives from the prostitutes. They are too busy to fritter away time on a book project.

  Amid part of Amsterdam’s oldest section sits the Red Light district with hundreds of girls in windows advertising their wares. It is estimated over two million tourists a year visit this district.

  Interspersed with tales of drinking, friendship and drugging about the reader is introduced to brief historical descriptions of Amsterdam, academic perspectives on prostitution and even a guide to securing a sexual transaction.

  Much of the book is Wienir’s dogged attempt to gain the trust of prostitute Emma who he glimpses in a window in the Red-Light District. Their eyes lock and he feels a cosmic connection as she gradually opens up to him and completely on his last night in Amsterdam before returning to his studies at Berkeley where she pours out her life story to him.

  And the story is not pretty.

  In fact it is brutal. Emma detests the degradation and humiliation of her profession and her descriptions of her trade are even more painful because although her name is fictional her stories are true.

  Wienir has totally fallen for Emma but keeps his vows which adds some high toned sexual tension to the book.

  Wienir returns to the United States and again travels to Amsterdam a year later and Emma has reformed in large part because of the care and concern Wiener displayed towards her. She has now a partner, helps displaced people, and is about to get married.

  Emma then drops a total bombshell on Wiener.

  Ironically Wiener is not afraid to criticize those who moralize against prostitution, but his own set of morals (not on prostitution) increase the shell fragments from Emma’s bombshell. I’d have to call this book as a call for humanizing prostitution, which it does an excellent job of doing, but I have a sense of it also being a tragic love story.

  In his epilogue Wienir writes, “I don’t expect anyone to have much empathy for Emma after reading this book, or for any other women mentioned.”

  Despite Emma’s upbringing, no one forced her to become a prostitute. Sure she had a tough life and some bad luck, but she made her own choices. Nor do I expect anyone to approve of her profession. I only ask that you remember Emma, and others like her are people. They are alive. They count. They have souls, and still have important choices to make. We as a society should help them make the right ones, rather than condemn them to relive their mistakes over and over again.

  (David Wienir, Amsterdam Exposed: An American’s Journey into the Red Light District, De Wallen Press, West Hollywood, California, $12.95 USD on Amazon, May 1 availability)

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• Open Pen
  http://www.openpen.co.uk/tag/david-wienir/
  Word count: 3936

  Amsterdam Exposed by David Wienir (De Wallen Press, 2018)

  Bitchy opening aside: This may be considered a starred review, because the amount of stars that exist at the end of the following text accurately reflects how many stars I would give the book were I to review with stars. To make this bitchy opening aside clearer, out of FIVE, I would give this book ZERO stars. If I gave stars. Which I don’t.

  via GIPHY

  Well.

  If you’re David Wienir or someone who cares about David Wienir’s feelings, you probably won’t want to read any further than this. Amsterdam Exposed – unless it is subtle, point blank, no-holds-barred, bang-on-the-nose satire (which I don’t think it is) – is one of the worst pieces of misjudged trash I have ever had the misfortune to read. If it is satire – maybe “parody” rather than satire – it’s fucking phenomenal, because Amsterdam Exposed is a book that is laughably confused. It is ignorant, shamefully misguided, presumptive, arrogant, smug and about as reflective as a cardboard box that’s been pissed on in a back alley of a much grimier red light district than the one in Amsterdam.

  Please note, I am only going to comment on the book, on the book, on the book, and on the character that the text evokes. If the David Wienir of the text is identical to the David Wienir who wrote it, then I apologise for what I am going to say, because the David Wienir in the text is a fucking moron, and if he is intended to be seen as a moron, then top fucking work, Writer David Wienir, but if he isn’t, then please remember that I am commenting on the literary David Wienir as real-life David Wienir wrote him.

  Right.

  I read a lot of books. I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as an “expert” on books, but I read at least one a week, I review books regularly for this website and irregularly for many others, I comment on books frequently on Twitter and my blog, TriumphoftheNow.com, and if I wasn’t self-hating and lower middle class I probably would describe myself as an expert on books. I have two degrees, essentially “in books”, so, fuck it, I am gonna own my expertise: I am an expert in books.

  I read enough to know what – when I’m reading something that’s good – works and what – when I’m reading something that’s bad – doesn’t. When I read a book that intends to be funny, a book that intends to be profound, a book that intends to be educational, a book that intends to be beautiful, a book that intends to be clever, a book that intends to be harrowing, I know that when the book does those things, it is a success. A book that seeks to be serious but makes you laugh is not a success, a book that seeks to discuss a topic but doesn’t, is not a success. A book that claims it is insightful but isn’t… is not a success. Amsterdam Exposed is not a success. It’s not just “not a success”, it’s a complete fucking failure.

  via GIPHY

  The premise of Amsterdam Exposed is that an American law student, David Wienir, is off to Europe for a semester of cultural exchange. While there, he decides he will “investigate” prostitution and “tell the world” about the “truth” of “the world’s oldest profession”. However, to do so he decides to “infiltrate” the red light district but without becoming a customer. He wants to talk to sex workers, while they’re at work, without paying for their time or fucking them. He commits himself – in writing, repeatedly – to never doing sex with a sex worker, and also not to pay for conversation. He spends most of the book getting pissed off because sex workers tell him to fuck off when he approaches their windows asking for conversation IN EXCHANGE FOR NOTHING, and then he eventually finds a woman who works as a prostitute who is willing to give him her time for free. However, he buys her ludicrously expensive and inappropriate gifts, falls in love with her but never has sex with her, and then eventually gets her to recount her life story to him and it is, as expected, sad and poignant. However, there is an overwhelming sense of judgement that pervades the text, so this story feels utterly out of place.

  To be blunt, Amsterdam Exposed is an embarrassing read: basically imagine the worst possible way a book with this premise could turn out, and then go worse. That is Amsterdam Exposed. Wienir’s text is full of digressions about dog shit, claims about Dutch social mores that are complete presumption, bragging about his education and his previous internships. It is a mess, thematically and literarily, and difficult to read because it’s just so fucking amateur.

  The following are some choice excerpts from the text. Basically, I want you to see – through Wienir’s own words – how the narratorial voice is judgemental, is rude, is clueless. He refers to the women who work as prostitutes as “girls” throughout, he falls in love with a sex worker, he refuses to pay for anyone’s time, he speaks about Red Bull as if it’s a deadly narcotic and he constantly constantly constantly writes about the dichotomy between working as a prostitute and being “normal”. He also patronisingly uses words like “save” and “redemption” a lot. The whole thing is terribly fucking pitched. It is judgemental and often cruel about the physical appearance of sex workers, there’s a section in the middle that offers advice to sex tourists, there is constant xenophobic stereotyping, and an overwhelming repetitious mantra about the perceived importance of the book as a whole, which he concludes by claiming it “saved” a woman from sex work. As in the book did. Jesus.

  “Looking at her, the last thing I saw was a prostitute. What I saw was a beautiful girl.” (p. 19) Why can’t a person be both?
  “It has been said that everyone has a superpower. […] If I could be said to have such a thing, it would be to fall asleep anywhere, on command. Call me Captain Bedtime, The Super Sleeper, Siesta-Man, or whatever. They would all apply.” (p. 24) Right.
  “Inga had a more optimistic take on life than one would expect from someone who grew up behind the Iron Curtain.” (pp. 25-26) Why? How?
  “While Estonia had since regained its independence, the aftereffects [of the Soviet Union] lingered, and the devastation was evident on the faces of everyone I encountered.” (p. 26) You see that? Everyone in Estonia looks devastated.
  “For well over a century, the station has been the gateway to Amsterdam, through which billions have travelled – locals, tourists and prostitutes alike.” (p. 27) The three types of people, hey?
  “Red Bull had yet to catch on in America, and I was unfamiliar with the stuff. Inga warned me to only drink one at a time. It was rumoured drinking more could cause your heart to stop, possibly explode. There was even talk it contained bull semen. Regardless, Amsterdam was fuelled by the drink.” (pp. 31-32) He finds Red Bull far more taboo and dangerous than marijuana and writes a lot more about the effects of caffeine, presuming the reader has never had a fucking coffee.
  “we relaxed and discussed the hot topics of the day. Bill Clinton, the death penalty, and why Americans are so fat. […] Relatively speaking, it was an innocent time.” (p. 32) Lol.
  “Did I really need a coffee after drinking Red Bull? Absolutely not. If anything, the Red Bull was kicking in” (p. 35) and “I felt the Red Bull and coffee coursing through my veins” (p. 37) both show the druglike deification of this product placement.
  “Many think once a girl steps behind a window, she’s no longer human. I want to change that […] to demystify the profession.” (p. 80) Who thinks this?
  “No one would have guessed I was walking with a prostitute. In that moment, she was just a normal girl.” (p. 81) Very judgemental.
  “Besides roses, I had never bought anything for a prostitute.” (p. 84) What an odd sentence.
  “The pants were tight, very tight […] I found a pair I could sit down in that didn’t show off my ballsack. Those were my two requirements, not easy to satisfy.” (p. 93) I don’t think buying jeans is this difficult in real life.
  In a barber’s: “I flipped through the pages of Euro-looking dudes until I found a style that didn’t make me look like a pussy.” (p. 93) Very aggressive, very macho.
  “Did I look like a bit of a douche? Perhaps. Did I look European? Absolutely.” (p. 94) Tbf this is one of the few times where I think Wienir was trying to be funny.
  “when the most attractive women are gone, the aesthetically challenged are busy at work” (p. 95) Very mean phrasing, very dehumanising.
  “sitting on a stool in a thong with her legs spread open, was one of the most grotesque women I have ever seen. No taller than five feet, she must have weighed nearly 300 pounds, had thin balding hair, and a rash. / On top of it all, she was a gum chewer.” (p. 96) The comment about gum renders this description ridiculous as well as mean. There are several such moments in the book, leeringly and dismissively describing the bodies of women.
  “I could tell that, despite everything, she was a good person […] I wanted to save her from the horror.” (p. 99) Presumptive, and presumes moral judgements in the mind of the reader.
  “Having spent more money than I wanted on two necklaces, one of which was hanging around the neck of a prostitute and the other lying on the bottom of a canal, I needed to get back on budget.” (p 103) He bought the necklace for Emma, the prostitute he falls in love with, then regretted it and threw it in a canal. He then regretted this so bought the same thing again. This bizarre, creepy, behaviour is written as if unremarkable. Also the implication that those two locations (bottom of a canal; neck of a prostitute) are equally valuable.
  “The concept of justice to a Russian lawyer seemed as foreign as the concept of love to a Dutch prostitute.” (p. 108) Who is this more offensive to? Discuss.
  “Before moving to Amsterdam, if someone would have told me I would be dipping fries into mayo once, sometimes twice, a day, I would have laughed.” (p. 109) Very much reminded me of the Alan Partridge line about visiting the Earls Court Boat Show with Dale Winton.
  “Sitting at the bar, I watched as one guy after another stumbled in. […] Most of the men wore pleather, and had mustaches. While there was no sign indicating I was in a gay bar, there were clues. There was a gay cinema across the street, there were no women anywhere, and two dudes with exposed butt-cheeks were making out in a corner.” (p. 111) I struggle to believe almost every word in this sentence.
  “’Hey there, ladies,’ I said, with no purpose but to affirm my heterosexuality.” (p. 112) This is embarrassing, but it is not written as if it is. Wienir isn’t making fun of himself here, as he should be if this is something he said.
  “They had left a bad taste in my mouth. Not because they were lesbians, but because of their pool table etiquette.” (p. 112) The denial is implying the “bad taste” is exactly for that reason.
  “The bathroom was clearly not being used for legitimate purposes.” (p. 118) Very prudish.
  “I’m not looking for action. I’m just doing some thinking.” (p. 120) This is spoken to a soliciting sex worker.
  “Blushing and ashamed, she said quietly, ‘David, I’m a prostitute.’ […] ‘No, Emma, you’re more than that,’ I said, ‘and I need you for the book.” (p. 124) None of the dialogue in the text reads realistically.
  “I knew our connection was real. I knew it transcended the district” (p. 131) Not even certain what this means.
  “She was out of their league, even for a prostitute.” (p. 134) Incredibly objectifying and dehumanising.
  “kissing is forbidden. Don’t even ask.” (p. 135) This is from the section offering advice to sex tourists, which is not in keeping with the judgemental tone elsewhere. Wienir is almost implying that he presumes his readers use sex workers, and this piece of advice “Rule Number Eight is just common sense. Don’t try to stick a finger up a girl’s ass.” (p. 138) is strangely specific. He directly evidences his presumption that the people who use sex workers are “people like him” and not “people like sex workers”.
  “The prostitute, glowing in the blue light, had an Adam’s apple . . . and a penis.” (p. 140) Some tourists are mocking a trans sex worker and Wienir recounts their taunts as if there is a validity in their behaviour.
  “When I looked at Ava, I no longer saw a prostitute. I saw a beautiful girl. I had to remind myself I was there to write a book, and somehow stay pure in the process.” (p. 143) The use of “pure” is key there, the tone of judgement sticks out.
  “I forgot where I was and flirted with her as though she was a normal girl.” (p. 159) In a brothel, he again differentiates between “normal” and sex worker.
  “’What’s wrong?’ I asked the 24-year-old prostitute.” (p. 173) Prurient detail.
  “she had just done a line of coke and was thinking about killing herself.” (p. 174) Very unsympathetic.
  “When I looked at her, I no longer saw a prostitute. I saw a friend.” (p. 175) This is one of the lines that makes me wonder if the book is satire.
  “More than 10,000 were buried there, including Vermeer and countless prostitutes.” (p. 184) Odd weighting of numbers there.
  “There were so many times I had wished Emma was an ordinary girl, and we could do ordinary things.” (p. 190) So so so so so judgemental.
  “With the exception of the flowers, necklace, book, shirt, and our first dinner, she never accepted anything from me.” (p. 190) This is funny for many reasons.
  “I couldn’t believe I was shopping for eggs and cheese with a Dutch prostitute.” (p. 190) Why couldn’t he believe this? He’s spent months trying to have this exact kind of experience.
  “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She was getting out. By agreeing to help with the book, she had seemingly found the closure she needed, and the strength to move on.” (pp. 235-236) So self-aggrandising.
  “Emma was no longer a prostitute. She was now just a girl.” (p. 237) Ouch.
  “Against all odds, a Dutch prostitute and an American has connected in the most unlikely of places.” (p. 238) I don’t think that’s an unlikely thing to happen in Amsterdam’s red light district…
  “I do not expect anyone to have much empathy for Emma after reading this book, or for any of the other women mentioned. […] I only ask that you remember that Emma, and others like her, are people.” (p. 247) Again, this presumption that the reader is cruel and very right wing.
  “Deep down, this book is not about Emma, or prostitution, or even Amsterdam. Rather, it’s about humanity. […] It’s about the inherent worth of the individual.” (p. 248) No it’s not, it’s about David Wienir.
  “Many thought Y2K would bring about the end of time.” (p. 249) Did they?
  “I never thought of myself as being above Emma, or any of the other women in the district […] I think this is one of the things Emma saw in my eyes when we met.” (p. 249) He’s special, Emma’s special, prostitution is dirty, is the message. He definitely thinks he is better than the woman chewing gum, for example.
  “I never imagined working on this book would lead to Emma quitting the profession. Few things have made me happier. […] if any working girls happen to stumble on this book, I hope the story inspires you to make similar choices. With Emma, it all started with developing a speck of self-worth. […] The last time I saw Emma, she asked me to marry her. […] It makes me happy knowing I meant something to her. I never became a customer, and finally had what I needed for my book. […] We defied the odds and did the impossible.” (pp. 250-251) No sex workers will be reading this book, certainly not to the end. The tone is of success, of self-importance, of a job well done. The word “speck” is damning, too.

  As the above shows, Wienir’s book is ignorant, offensive, arrogant and anachronistic. Amsterdam Exposed uses tired and old-school clichés as if unaware of them. Tropes that are embarrassing to read, the idea of a “special prostitute”/”tart with a heart” etc., the idea of a man “saving” a “fallen woman”, of it being “revolutionary” to not want to pay for sex, y’know, which I don’t think it is. I’ve never paid for sex. Have you? The narrative of the book is tired, the insight non-existent…

  AND AND AND Amsterdam Exposed feels like a self-published book: there is lots of repetition, poor sentence structure and a crippling lack of self-awareness, yet never have I ever received as many pleading emails from a PR company to get a review out. The writer is a very successful and hyper-privileged lawyer working in Hollywood, so perhaps he paid for the PR agency himself, and/or he is the PR agency, using a fake email address. I honestly can’t believe that there is anyone in the world (other than possibly the writer) who thinks that reviews of this book will make it more likely to sell. Then again, it is fucking hilarious, though it really, really, really, doesn’t mean to be. One laughs at the tone, at the narrator, at the pomposity and self-importance. This is a bad, badly written, book. Unless, to say it again, it’s a parody of a clueless middle-aged man writing about sex work. It reminded me a lot of the books written in the character of Alan Partridge, and I don’t think that’s what Wienir intended.

  Then again, maybe a lot of my disapproval comes from classism: I am done with allowing people to make me feel like they are better than I am, and Wiener’s book is riddled with attempts to present himself as elite, as important, as more valid than whoever is reading his work. He portrays himself as an expert, when in reality he isn’t, and he continues to evidence this lack of expertise while simultaneously continuing to claim it. This is what the elite do, isn’t it, pretend they and their work and their world view is the correct and most important one? And that can absolutely fuck the fuck off.

  I am DONE with people with more money and/or confidence than me making me feel small, I have given up on accepting bullshit and I have given up on letting bullies bully me or bully in front of me. The problem, though, is that this requires me to play a role I don’t want to play: acquiesce or fight seem to be the choice, and I don’t want to do either, but other people want and expect me to do the first and will only accept the second as an alternative.

  Since deciding to give up on other’s people’s bullshit, I have almost got into physical fights multiple times: not because I can’t do this fucking late-capitalist bullshit, but because I can, and if I live within society and want to respect myself then I have to. I face up to my own hypocrisies and I acknowledge the fucking world’s. I am better better better and more reflective, more empathetic, more connected than David Wienir’s literary self is, even though he thinks he’s a fucking Master of the Universe.

  Maybe reading this condescending, ignorant, middle class (in the English sense) misreading of continental Europe was exactly what I needed at this stage in my life. I’m leaving England, hoping to find – to be frank – better people. It is people like David Wienir I am leaving and will seek to avoid forever: the “cracks” I am deliberately fucking diving through are the “cracks” that pricks like this “warn” their pampered, aupaired, offspring that they might fall through.

  I spent my teenage years being told I wasn’t good enough because my parents weren’t wealthy, then my twenties being told I wasn’t good enough because the raging fucking wiiiiiild inferno of ambition I felt wasn’t ambition towards economic clout. Fuck it all. Fuck the bullies from school and fuck the bullies from my twenties. I end this decade of my life prepped for greater personal happiness, pumped for international travel and a life not tied down to a middle aged, middle class idea of acceptable rebellion. Casual weekend drug use doesn’t make you interesting, paying fucking car insurance doesn’t make you more worthwhile. For fuck’s sake, stop telling other people how to live, stop pretending YOUR LIFESTYLE is the only valid lifestyle. Live how you like, but let other fucking people do too. No one is better or worse than anyone else. Good and evil are fucking relative. Live your own life, stop being a prick.

  I like to work, I like to work HARD, but I’m not working for bullshit, I’m not working to directly make any lazy bastard richer than anyone needs to be; maybe this isn’t the place for a personal manifesto, maybe this isn’t the place to recommend everyone quits their office job and starts working in an independent bakery or something and spends the whole day after their shift making art, making music, making fuck. Well, actually, I am. If we all extricate ourselves from the corrupt capitalistic system that funnels super wealth to a handful of self-important wankers, then we’d all be better off. Spiritually, culturally and socially.

  It’s not hard to have a revelatory experience in Amsterdam, but David Wienir failed to do so. However, his privilege and highly inflated sense of self-worth allowed him to invest huge amounts of his time getting next to nothing out of the city. He names the bicycle he rides around on “the purple rocket”, like a penis. He is not mature enough to write about sex work with any validity. If Amsterdam Exposed is a joke, it’s hilarious and it works. If it is trying or hoping or believing itself to be anything else, it’s an absolutely irredeemable piece of shit.

  Avoid like Wienir avoided sex – though not sex workers – in Amsterdam.

  Preorder my poems.

• Theater Mania
  https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/making-it-at-the-drama-book-shop_4707.html
  Word count: 749

  Making It at the Drama Book Shop
  Have you read Making It on Broadway? If you're pursuing a career in theater, Filichia thinks you should.
  AuthorPeter FilichiaLocationsNew York CityMay 11, 2004

  Had a good time moderating a panel discussion at the Drama Book Shop about Making It on Broadway, David Wienir and Jodie Langel's sensational new trade paperback. It's a collection of quotations that the two authors got from 154 stage performers, ranging from Tony-winners to swings. And, oh, did they spill the beans on what it's like dreaming of Broadway, struggling for Broadway, and making it to Broadway -- which is profoundly different from Making It on Broadway. Who knew that A Chorus Line actually sugar-coated the strife-filled life of performers?
  "This book," I told the crowd, "shows that Irving Berlin was lying when he wrote 'There's No Business Like Show Business' -- for 'everything about it is' NOT 'appealing.' On the other hand," I said, "maybe we should give Berlin the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he wrote 'everything about it is appalling' but his secretary mistyped it."

  Though the lion's share of stories inluded here aren't sunny, I wouldn't call the book negative. "Realistic" is a better word. Wienir was on hand for the discussion but Langel was not, for though she appeared in Les Miz, Martin Guerre, Cats, and Joseph, after all that she still found herself performing "Memory" at a children's birthday party in New Jersey one day. So she returned to graduate school, and she missed the Drama Book Shop event because she had to stay in California and study.

  Daniel C. Levine understands Langel's point-of-view. The actor told us that he dreamed of being in Les Miz from the moment he heard the score but decided that he'd be better off at Tufts Dental School. Yet when the opportunity arose for him to audition for the show, he took it -- and his dream came true when he was cast. Or so he thought. "Fast forward two years," he said dully, telling us how bored he became with the show.

  According to Wienir, many actors felt the same way about that British mega-musical and plenty of the others; they felt like cogs in a machine rather than actors. I nodded, for I'd learned that after reading the harrowing stories -- each of them a Michael Riedel wet-dream -- in which they told of going through the motions on stage or playing pranks on each other in view of the audience. Anything to keep their sanity. Jim Walton, also on hand for the discussion, admitted that he fell into much the same mindset when he was in the first production of 42nd Street for months on end. He said it was a tough adjustment after growing up in community theater, where you did a maximum of, say, eight performances and you didn't have the chance to grow tired of a show. (Don't forget, he didn't get many more performances than that when he played the lead in the original Merrily We Roll Along.) Walton admitted that he's had some lean times lately and I was too much of a gentleman to bring up Chef's Theatre, in which he opened but from which he quickly parted company. He reminisced on the recent revival of The Music Man, wherein he played Charlie Cowell but understudied Harold Hill. So there were Wednesdays and Saturdays when he played the lead at the matinee and came out the stage door to fans begging for autographs but then did the small part at the evening show and was totally ignored upon leaving the theater.

  That brought up the subject of fans -- and stalkers. Walton made it clear that he has a lovely booster named Polly in Canada but Dave Clemmons told of Catherine, a San Franciscan who pursued him vigorously from city to city when he played Valjean on tour. He knew that she was bonkers when she said she was moving to Little Rock because the end of the world was nigh but she'd be saved because of the crystals found in abundance there. (Don't ask.) She disappeared from his life for a while -- "and then we played Little Rock," he droned. The entire sordid story can be found among the pages of Making It on Broadway. (No wonder that Clemmons abandoned performing and is now one of the town's best casting agents.)

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