The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence is a 1995 photography and poetry book by David Hamilton. The book contains images of early-teen girls, often nude, accompanied by lyrical poetry. Images are in a boudoir setting and photographed mainly in colour using a soft-focus filter, with some shots in black-and-white. Reception The book is one of Hamilton's most popular titles. According to the Los Angeles Times, the book's images are "thought by thousands of critics and consumers to be socially acceptable, even wonderful." Likewise The New York Times stated the book received critical praise. Outside of art critics however the book has been criticised. A journalist from The New York Times described the book as "the essence of icky...", and similarly opined that "The author could certainly be considered a dirty old man." A journalist from Time stated he was both amused and repelled by the book, calling it "as campy as it is creepy". Legality The book is available for sale on Amazon.com, and in book shops around the world. Whilst the book itself has not been deemed illegal in any jurisdiction, the nature of the pictures within it have caused debate over what constitutes child pornography in both the US and the UK. In 1998 Barnes & Noble was indicted on child pornography charges in the US states of Alabama and Tennessee due to selling The Age of Innocence as well as Radiant Identities and The Last Day of Summer by Jock Sturges. Anti-abortion activist and then talk-show host Randall Terry has been credited with causing the prosecution, after he encouraged his listeners to locate prosecutors interested in taking the case. The charges were dropped in Tennessee after Barnes & Noble agreed to move the books to an area that was less-accessible to children. The indictment in Alabama was dismissed after it was determined the books did not violate state law. The publicity from Randall Terry's efforts was linked to an increase in sales of the books.