Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards in the LGBTQ Studies
category: a landmark account of the seismic changes brought to
twentieth-century culture by gay and lesbian networks "An avalanche
of stories, ribald gossip, and lengthy asides . . . collectively
confirm the book's central thesis: gay culture, or at least gays
and lesbians, did indeed liberate the modern world."-Booklist In a
hugely ambitious study which crosses continents, languages, and
almost a century, Gregory Woods identifies the ways in which
homosexuality has helped shape Western culture. Extending from the
trials of Oscar Wilde to the gay liberation era, this book examines
a period in which increased visibility made acceptance of
homosexuality one of the measures of modernity. Woods shines a
revealing light on the diverse, informal networks of gay people in
the arts and other creative fields. Uneasily called "the Homintern"
(an echo of Lenin's "Comintern") by those suspicious of an
international homosexual conspiracy, such networks connected gay
writers, actors, artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers,
politicians, and spies. While providing some defense against
dominant heterosexual exclusion, the grouping brought solidarity,
celebrated talent, and, in doing so, invigorated the majority
culture. Woods introduces an enormous cast of gifted and
extraordinary characters, most of them operating with surprising
openness; but also explores such issues as artistic influence, the
coping strategies of minorities, the hypocrisies of conservatism,
and the effects of positive and negative discrimination. Traveling
from Harlem in the 1910s to 1920s Paris, 1930s Berlin, 1950s New
York and beyond, this sharply observed, warm-spirited book presents
a surpassing portrait of twentieth-century gay culture and the men
and women who both redefined themselves and changed history.
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