This is a memoir of adolescence and the search for identity. The 1950s with the Cold War, National Service and the persecution of gays was an awkward decade in which to discover life's purposes. If the author's education pointed to his becoming an academic historian, an early modernist at school, a medievalist as an undergraduate, a modern Europeanist as a graduate, he was drawn to the alternatives of poet, monk and psychotherapist. It was a peculiarly troubling time in which to resolve a crisis of sexuality and accept a gay identity. He had to cope with his parents' divorce. At Oxford, after falling foul of the law, he spent time as a mental patient. National Service in the Navy, commissioned as a Midshipman, with its exposure to the Cyprus Emergency and Suez, took him into an entirely different world.

A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers-Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood-sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.

Originally published in 1989. This is the first history of modern France to explore the long-term origins of the libertarian revolt. It traces the moral history from the eighteenth century to the 1960s, examining the questions of marriage and divorce, homosexuality, and sexual morality. It includes detailed chapters on the Marquis de Sade, Charles Fourier, Andre Gide, and Daniel Guerin in order to illustrate the changing legislation, popular thought and public opinion. The result is an enlightening and provocative account which will be of interest to students of modern French history, moral thought and the history of sexual attitudes.

Originally published in 1989. This is the first history of modern France to explore the long-term origins of the libertarian revolt. It traces the moral history from the eighteenth century to the 1960s, examining the questions of marriage and divorce, homosexuality, and sexual morality. It includes detailed chapters on the Marquis de Sade, Charles Fourier, Andre Gide, and Daniel Guerin in order to illustrate the changing legislation, popular thought and public opinion. The result is an enlightening and provocative account which will be of interest to students of modern French history, moral thought and the history of sexual attitudes.

A Spiritual Bloomsbury is an exploration of how three English writers-Edward Carpenter, E.M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood-sought to come to terms with their homosexuality by engagement with Hinduism. Copley reveals how these writers came to terms with their inner conflicts and were led in the direction of Hinduism by friendship or the influence of gurus. Tackling the themes of the guru-disciple relationship, their quarrel with Christianity, relationships with their mothers and the problematic feminine, the tensions between sexuality and society, and the attraction of Hindu mysticism; this fascinating work seeks to reveal whether Hinduism offered the answers and fulfillment these writers ultimately sought. Also included is a diary narrating Copley's quest to track down Carpenter's and Isherwood's Vendantism and Forster's Krishna cult on a journey to India.