If one street in America can claim to be the most infamous, it is surely Forty-second Street. Once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers, and movie houses, Forty-second Street has been overwhelmed by the quest for safety - from safe sex and safe neighborhoods to safe cities and safe relationships. Now defined by corporate theme stores and large, neon-lit cafes, Forty-second Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester County, and the New Jersey suburbs.

Samuel R. Delany sees a disappearance, not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there; the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peep shows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values."