In the Press

“…Red Light is eminently satisfying, a lurid glimpse into the lives of the strippers, adult film stars, phone-sex operators, dominatrixes and prostitutes who make up the sex industry.” —New York Times Book Review

"A thinking person's romp through the diverse incarnations of the sex industry of New York and environs...a fun and candidly informative read." —Spin

"...an interesting course between reportage and critique...obviously not your typical coffee-table book..." —Chicago Tribune

“…An unforgettable portrait of a teeming society, somewhat eerily referential.” —Nan Richardson for The Boston Book Review

“…has a bleary, peephole quality that suits the subject well…” —American Photo

“…explores the territory of contemporary desire, beauty, and the failed promise of sexual liberation.” —The Chicago Tribune

“Originally an investigation into the lives of hookers, dominants, porn stars, and go-go boys and girls, Red Light evolved as a meditation on human frailty and a defense of the same.” —The Village Voice

“…A tense, charged, claustrophobic visual-verbal environment, and effective analogue of the world it describes.” —Photo Metro

“While the book’s topic is sensational, neither the photos nor text are – a tribute both to the photographer's keen sense of esthetic and the writer’s decision to tell his story through the words of the sex workers themselves.” —The Picture Professional

“The real star here is Sylvia Plachy’s photography. Her black and white pictures are accurate and unflinching without being exploitative, her sense of subjects unerring and real.” —Seconds

“Plachy’s keen-eyed photographs go beyond cliché…. Ridgeway’s text is equally frank, recording the words of men and women who are generally voiceless.” —The Times-Picayune

“Red Light does this without any self-aggrandized preaching and without passing judgment. All the while, its sharp black and white photos are both alarming and revealing.” —The Fridge

“…visually stark, very humanistic depiction of the many aspects of the sex industry…and offers a composite social-segment commentary by Village Voice Washington correspondent James Ridgeway.” —Vivid Magazine

More Press Coverage !!
“Carol Squiers’ Short Shots,” BookForum
Boston Phoenix Literary Section
Publishers Weekly
“Signs & Relics,” Metropolis
Five-page feature in Masquerade
Das Magazin