If you need some inspiration for LGBT History Month in February, then look no further than our handy list of books that delve into our past and lays it all bare for all to see. These books are a fascinating glimpse into our queer history and shows just how far we’ve come in attitude, acceptance, art, theatre and visibility.
Backward Glances: Cruising the Queer Streets of New York and London
An exploration of the history of male street cruising. Beginning with the simple premise that we all walk the streets differently, Mark Turner suggests that male cruising operates through encounter and connection rather than alienation, and that it is the defining experience of what it means to be modern. This is the first gay urban history of its kind, examining these issues across a range of cultural material. Backward Glances is aimed at all those interested in the culture of the city, queer cultural history and the appropriation of public space.
Buy Backward Glances: Cruising the Queer Streets of New York and London, by Mark Turner, online now.
Blood Moon's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Film
This is the ultimate guide to the growing force of gay and lesbian nfilmmaking. More than 200 gay and lesbian films, each of them a recent release, are reviewed with photos of the actors involved, original reviews, and special features that reflect the gossip, drama and some of the censorship issues associated with the release of these films. There's never been a book like this before, and in light of how many GLBT films have recently been released, this is a hugely timely publication.
Buy Blood Moon's Guide to Gay and Lesbian Film, by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, online now.
Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang
Polari has been the secret language of gay men and women through the twentieth century. But more than a language, Polari is an attitude and has been used to laugh, bitch, gossip and cruise. A carefully researched and entertaining read, Fantabulosa presents a lexicon of Polari and a more general dictionary of lesbian and gay slang. If you don't yet know what vada the bona cartes on the ommee ajax, parkering ninty, a Mexican nightmare or a nellyectomy mean, then this is the book for you.
Buy Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang, by Paul Baker, online now.
Gay Art: A Historic Collection
This work is an updated edition of the 1972 pioneering classic. When originally published, this was the first book of its kind to document expressions of gay male sexuality as depicted in visual art, from antiquity to pop culture; its frank and unapologetic survey of the pleasures of the flesh was, for gay men, unprecedented, and it remains the starting-point for modern-day discussions of erotic gay male artwork and comics.
Buy Gay Art: A Historic Collection, edited by Felix Lance Falkon and Thomas Waugh, online now.
Gay History of Britain, A: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages
The new standard history of love and desire between men in Britain, is a landmark achievement. Covering nearly a thousand years from the Norman Conquest to the internet age, it is a history rich in personalities. Drawing on a fabulous wealth of research, the authors deliver a constantly absorbing, highly-readable narrative. Broad in its coverage but nuanced in its detail - including never-before-seen illustrations - it is a compelling and eye-opening exploration of the many different ways in which British men have expressed their love and desire for one another.
Buy Gay History of Britain, A: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages, by Matt Cook, Robert Mills and H. G. Cocks, online now.
Gay Life and Culture: A World History
The first ever comprehensive, global account of gay history. It is spectacularly illustrated throughout and includes an extensive selection of images, many of them only recently recovered. From Theocritus' verses to Queer as Folk, from the berdaches of North America to the boy-wives of Aboriginal Australia, this extraordinarily wide-ranging book illustrates both the commonality of love and lust, and the various ways in which such desires have been constructed through the ages.
Buy Gay Life and Culture: A World History, by Robert Aldrich, online now.
Hello Sailor!: Gay Life for Seamen
When gays had to be closeted, ships were the only places where homosexual men could not only be out but also camp. And on some liners to the sun and the New World, queens and butches had a ball. They sashayed and minced their way across the world's oceans! Never before has the story been told of the thousands of queer seafarers, mainly stewards, who sometimes even outnumbered the straight men in the catering departments of ships that were the pride of the British fleet. Hello Sailor! shows what it was like to be queer at sea at a time when land meant straightness.
Buy Hello Sailor!: Gay Life for Seamen, by Jo Stanley and Paul Baker, online now.
It's Not Unusual: History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the 20th Century
At the beginning of the century the word ‘homosexuality’ was rarely used and yet, as the century draws to a close, it is part of our everday vocabulary. The progress of the word form obscurity to common usage parallels the progress gay men and lesbians have made. The book charts that advance from a time when homosexuality was an unspeakable sin to a point where it is just another form of sexual expression.
Buy It's Not Unusual: History of Lesbian and Gay Britain in the 20th Century, by Alkarim Jivani, online now.
A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500
Drawing on a range of historical sources - court records, newspaper reports, medical records, novels, oral histories, and personal papers - this book presents the extraordinary history of lesbian experience in Britain. Examining the lives and experiences of well-known as well as ordinary women, it brings both variety and nuance to their shared history. In doing so, it explores cultural representations of, and changing attitudes toward, female same-sex desire in Britain.
Buy A Lesbian History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Women Since 1500, by Rebecca Jennings, online now.
Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830
This pioneering historical study is the first comprehensive chronicle of the English gay community at its 18th-century roots, sporting for the first time a distinctive subculture with its ‘molly houses’, ‘sodomites' walks’, ‘maiden names’ and gay slang. Rictor Norton's research into trial records and contemporary documents establishes a vital cornerstone for the reconstruction of gay history. And yes, ‘Mother Clap's’ actually was the name of a prominent molly house!
Buy Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830, by Rictor Norton, online now.
Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present
A unique and hugely absorbing narrative history of gay life - from Oscar Wilde to the first gay marriage performed in San Francisco in 2004. Neil Miller accompanies his narrative with essays and excerpts from contemporary and historical sources and the text is illustrated with images and photographs. This is an updated and revised edition of Miller's multi-award winning gay history tome.
Buy Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present, by Neil Miller, online now.
Out in History
These stories and essays explore the lives of some of the most fascinating gay, lesbian and bisexual personalities in history, including Michelangelo, Christopher Marlowe, Marianne Moore, Gertrude Stein, James Merrill, Joe Orton, Andre Gide and Gore Vidal. As well as profiling writers, artists and leaders, other essays include interviews with Quentin Crisp and Allen Ginsberg, an in-depth look at gays and the Holocaust, and writings from Thom Nickels's popular newspaper articles. Bright, witty, sad and controversial, these essays will keep you reading, thinking and questioning. Read our review.
Buy Out in History, by Thom Nickels, online now.
Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance & Musical Theatre
Aficionados of music, dance and theatre will relish this volume which showcases over 200 composers, singers, musicians, dancers and choreographers. No previous volume has achieved the breadth and scope of this scholarly, yet immensely accessible, book. With overviews of genres and biographical information on the leading figures within them The Queer Encyclopedia Of Music, Dance And Musical Theatre covers all bases.
Buy The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance & Musical Theatre, by Claude J. Summer, online now.
Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957
Drawing on previously unknown sources, from police reports and newspaper exposés to personal letters, diaries, and the first queer guidebook ever written, Matt Houlbrook explores the relationship between queer sexualities and modern urban culture that we take for granted today. He revisits the diverse queer lives that took hold in London's parks and streets; its restaurants, pubs, and dancehalls and describes how London shaped the culture and politics of queer life—and how London was in turn shaped by the lives of queer men.
Buy Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957, by Matt Houlbrook, online now.
Wearing History: T-Shirts from the Gay Rights Movement
Small, unassuming and perfectly formed, Wearing History acknowledges this and showcases some of the most memorable T-shirts that have made a statement on the streets over the past fifty years. Gdula' shows how T-shirts demonstrate belonging, that they can be used to express identity and ideologies and that ordinary gay people can be contributors to and actors within our struggle for rights. Read our review.
Buy Wearing History: T-Shirts from the Gay Rights Movement, by Steve Gdula, online now.
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