The Present State of Scholarship

I've decided that this section of my proposal -- "The Present State of Scholarship" -- is going to be the key part of my proposal defense. After meeting with a wonderful historian of the Lower Est Side yesterday and getting her feedback on my topic, I've realized that the topic itself is engaging enough and rich with potential meaning. But what it tells us and how it fits into the larger historiography of New York, the Lower East Side, tourism, sexuality, etc. still remains to be seen.

As with my research paper on the Committee of Fourteen a couple of years ago, I need to do that somewhat tedious part of research preparation where I explain why what I'm doing is so damned important. And so, being realistic now, let me list the texts I really need to discuss in order to "defend" my proposal:

In terms of urban tourism/leisure:

Cocks, Catherine. Doing the Town: The Rise of Urban Tourism in the United States, 1840-1915
Nasaw, David. Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements
Erenberg, Lewis. Steppin' Out: New York Nightlife and the Transformation of American Culture
Peiss, Kathy. Cheap Amusements
Wasserman, Suzanne. The Good Old Days of Poverty
etc.

In terms of slumming as slumming:

Koven, Seth. Slumming
Gandal, Keith. The Virtues of the Vicious: Jacob Riis, Stephen Crane, and the Spectacle of the Slum

In terms if Lower East Side history:

Peiss, Kathy. Cheap Amusements
Wasserman, Suzanne. The Good Old Days of Poverty
Ewen, Elizabeth. Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side, 1890-1925.
Riis, Jacob. How the Other Half Lives
Abu-Lughod, Janet. From Urban Village to East Village
Mele, Christopher. Selling the Lower East Side
Diner, Hasia. ed. Remembering the Lower East Side
Tchen, Jack. New York Before Chinatown
Bonner, Arthur. Alas! What Brought Thee Hither
etc.

In terms of sex:
Gilfoyle, Timothy. City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920.
Chauncey, George. Gay New York
etc.

There are also all of those American Lit. dissertation I found on slumming literature, which should be considered.