First off, to be clear, what does "white slavery" refer to? Is the term restricted to white girls who are sold in sex slavery, or does it also refer to girls of color?

I am always both curious, and a bit horrified, when a law includes terms like "moral" or "immoral" instead of actual testable definitions. Can you speak to how such a clause was enforced in practice? Has the subjectivity of morality ever been successfully used as a defense against charges arising from the act? How has interpretation of that portion of the act changed over time?

Thank you for taking the time to come speak with us!

The famous boxer Jack Johnson was prosecuted under the Mann Act for supposedly transporting a white woman he had a relationship with. Was the Mann act enforced with any degree of equanimity or was it used selectively? Was Jack Johnson railroaded or was he getting the common treatment of the time?

How did J Edgar Hoover develop his cult of personality in his early years?

Thank for you for taking questions in this AMA!

Firstly, was the Mann Act ever used to crack down on pornography, interstate or otherwise?

In regards to prostitution in the progressive era, quite recently there was a question if prostitution was segregated in the United States, from personal studies I know that in many places such as Chicago, it truly depended on where you were and how much money you had. Could you speak to this?

What were the "routes" of interstate prostitution in the United States in the Progressive Era. If a girl came from the South, where likely would she have "worked"? What about the West Coast, or a larger city such as Detroit or Chicago?

I hope these questions aren't too vague and again, thank you for your time.

Were there 'really' white slaves or was it a massive hype created around small incidences to force the law through Congress like the Obscene Publications Act or the current PP situation?

Thanks for all of your great questions! I am logging out.

What a fascinating discovery/argument!

The blurb on the publisher's website says:

In pursuit of offenders, the Bureau often intervened in domestic squabbles on behalf of men intent on monitoring their wives and daughters.

If the FBI was such a meager presence in law enforcement in 1910, how did those men know to contact them? (Or how did their intermediaries?) Did men regularly report their wives and daughters for suspicious sexual activity to the local police beforehand? How much was the Mann Act publicized--would the average person have been aware of it and its provisions?

Was there really no social stigma attached in the sudden "revelation" that Mr. So-and-So's wife was a "prostitute"? (Or was this less a loss of face than "Mr. So-and-So's wife was seen cavorting with Mr. Dude"?)

...Probably I should just read your book.

What was the usual attitude towards prostitutes at the time? Did people are it as a necessary/inevitable evil like England? Did they think women had the right to sell their bodies?

Do you have any indication of the degree of the investigation and enforcement of this kind of "morality law" that was used to enforce social norms vs actual kidnapping and coercive prostitution? In other words, was this commonly used as a lever to stop all sex work, or was it more used against trafficking rings and the like?

Is there any information regarding how many women became sex workers by choice vs how many were forced?