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MARK HASKELL SMITH discusses his new book NAKED AT LUNCH, together with JILLIAN LAUREN

Naked At Lunch (Grove Press)

People have been getting naked in public for reasons other than sex for centuries. But as novelist and narrative journalist Mark Haskell Smith shows in Naked at Lunch, being a nudist is more complicated than simply dropping trou. “Nonsexual social nudism,” as it’s called, rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century. Intellectuals, outcasts, and health nuts from Victorian England and colonial India to Belle Époque France and Gilded Age Manhattan disrobed and wrote manifestos about the joys of going clothing-free. From stories of ancient Greek athletes slathered in olive oil to the millions of Germans who fled the cities for a naked frolic during the Weimar Republic to American soldiers given “naturist” magazines by the Pentagon in the interest of preventing sexually transmitted diseases, Haskell Smith uncovers nudism’s amusing and provocative past. 

Naked at Lunch is equal parts cultural history and gonzo participatory journalism. Coated in multiple layers of high SPF sunblock, Haskell Smith dives into the nudist world today. He publicly disrobes for the first time in Palm Springs, observes the culture of family nudism in a clothing-free Spanish town, and travels to the largest nudist resort in the world, a hedonist’s paradise in the south of France. He reports on San Francisco’s controversial ban on public nudity, participates in a week of naked hiking in the Austrian Alps, and caps off his adventures with a week on the Big Nude Boat, a Caribbean cruise full of nudists.

Praise for Naked At Lunch

“Throwing both caution and clothing to the wind, novelist and journalist Haskell Smith strikes a winning combination of personal and journalistic narrative as he investigates the appeal of nudism…Haskell Smith’s empathy and genuine interest…make this account both informative and entertaining. He’s usually laughing with his subjects rather than at them, and the arc of his education on this topic makes for a witty and insightful read.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With solid reporting and scholarship, Smith delves into the genesis of the global nudism movement… Smith makes you laugh and think. A thoughtful and entertaining analysis of why so many still want to ditch their clothes and let it all hang out.”  —Kirkus Reviews

“Hilarious, absorbing and—to adapt Blake’s comment on Milton—a sustained celebration of the invention of clothing.”—Geoff Dyer

“A strangely compelling, riotously funny traipse through the world of nudism. Mark Haskell Smith is a worthy heir to the George Plimpton school of journalism. He's not there to mock; he's there to experience humanity in all its full-monty complexity.”—J. Maarten Troost, author of Headhunters on My Doorstep and The Sex Lives of Cannibals 

“Naked at Lunch is a total joy. Mark Haskell Smith is a fine reporter, a trenchant cultural observer and a spectacular writer. He’s the best kind of participatory journalist; one who stands proudly with his subjects even as he stands apart from them. The naked cruise chapter is a tour de force and a worthy addition to the canon of great cruise writing. Even if you’ve never been nude in your life and have no plans to be in the future, this book will thrill you with its hilarious and outrageous stories and move you with its essential humanity.”—Meghan Daum, author of The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion

“Mark Haskell Smith turns out to be an ideally curious point man into the bizarre and complicated world of modern-day nudism. If there’s a funnier, more interesting book about being naked, I’d very much like to read it.”—Tom Bissell, co-author of The Disaster Artist 

Naked at Lunch is insightful, brave, and inspiring. With extraordinary honesty and humor, Haskell Smith faces down social and personal inhibitions to experience both a fascinating subculture and a moving personal transformation.”—Jillian Lauren, author of the New York Times bestseller Some Girls: My Life in a Harem

Mark Haskell Smith is the author of five novels, including Moist, Salty, and Raw: A Love Story, and the nonfiction book Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Vulture. He lives in Los Angeles.

Jillian Lauren is a writer, storyteller, mom, rock-wife, and Los Angeleno, by way of Jersey. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, the novel Pretty, and the memoir Everything You Ever Wanted. She has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Paris Review, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Magazine, Elle and Salon, among others. She also speaks and tells live stories, often with The Moth. Jillian is married to the musician Scott Shriner, and together they adopted their son Tariku from Ethiopia in 2009.

Jillian Lauren photo by Robyn Von Swank

Event date: 
Thursday, June 18, 2015 - 7:30pm
Event address: 
1818 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist's Adventures in the Clothing-Optional World By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$25.00
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
ISBN: 9780802123510
Published: Grove Press - June 2nd, 2015

Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$15.00
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
ISBN: 9780307720542
Published: Crown - April 3rd, 2012

Baked By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$14.00
ISBN: 9780802170767
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Grove Press, Black Cat - August 3rd, 2010

Raw: A Love Story By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$15.00
ISBN: 9780802122018
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Grove Press, Black Cat - December 3rd, 2013

Moist By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$14.00
ISBN: 9780802143358
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Grove Press - October 10th, 2007

Salty By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$14.00
ISBN: 9780802170347
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Grove Press, Black Cat - June 10th, 2007

Delicious By Mark Haskell Smith Cover Image
$12.00
ISBN: 9780802142481
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Grove Press - April 10th, 2006

Everything You Ever Wanted: A Memoir By Jillian Lauren Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9780142181638
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Plume - May 5th, 2015

Pretty: A Novel By Jillian Lauren Cover Image
$15.00
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
ISBN: 9780452297340
Published: Plume - August 30th, 2011

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem By Jillian Lauren Cover Image
$24.00
ISBN: 9780452296312
Availability: Not in Stock. Available to Order.
Published: Plume - April 27th, 2010