Forgotten Sociology Book Review in the New Yorker

January 12, 2013 4:13 PM

Would you please help me remember either this event, book, or article?

I read a book review in the New Yorker, from somewhere between 2005 and 2007, about sociology. I'm not sure if it was the main element in the book or if it stuck in my mind because of its shear strangeness, but I remember a discussion of a book that is a collection of written accounts by people on the day of a coronation or other public ceremony in London. I've looked up coronations from the last couple centuries, but I haven't found the specific event.

One of the accounts was of a couple meeting in a subway station, then having sex in a hotel as the procession past. There were other descriptions of the accounts, but this is the only one I've been able to remember.

posted by slowlikemolasses to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

I think you're referring to the fascinating Mass-Observation movement? Here's the New Yorker article about it.
posted by finnb at 4:37 PM on January 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

Here's a digital collection about Mass-Observation.
posted by Miko at 9:06 PM on January 12, 2013