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Bad Gays
A Homosexual History
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Format: Hardback
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An unconventional history of Homosexuality
A unconventional history of Homosexuality
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs. However, as Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller argue, the past is filled with queer people whose sexualities and/or dastardly deeds have been overlooked. We all remember Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those 'bad gays' whose un-exemplary lives reveal more than we might expect?
Part-revisionist history, part-historical biography, and based on the hugely popular podcast series, Bad Gays subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes. It asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality, and identity through its villains and baddies. From the Emperor Hadrian to notorious gangster Ronnie Kray, the authors excavate the buried history of queer lives. This includes fascist thugs, famous artists, austere puritans, debauched bon viveurs, Imperialists, G-men, and architects. Together, these amazing life stories expand and challenge the mainstream assumptions of sexual identity.
They show that homosexuality itself was an idea that emerged in the nineteenth century, and its interpretation has been central to major historical moments of conflict, from the ruptures of the Weimar Republic to red-baiting in Cold War America.
Amusing, disturbing, and fascinating, Bad Gays puts centre stage the queer villains and evil twinks in history.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Bad Gays by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller is acclaimed for its audacious exploration of the darker side of queer history, filled with salacious details and wry humour. The authors confront the notion of liberatory history needing heroes, delving instead into tales of villainous and complex figures to challenge assumptions about oppression and morality. The book is praised for its engaging historiography and entertaining insights, offering a fresh perspective on LGBTQ+ history and its influence on identity and societal perceptions.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781839763274
Publisher: Verso Books
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 31 May 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Verso Books
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 28.0mm
Width: 153.0mm
Height: 234.0mm
Weight: 532g
Pages: 368
About the Author
Huw Lemmey is a novelist, artist and critic. He is the author of three novels: Unknown Language, Red Tory, and Chubz. He has written for the Guardian, Frieze, Flash Art, Tribune, The Architectural Review, Art Monthly, New Humanist, the White Review, and L’Uomo Vogue, amongst others. As an artist and filmmaker his work has been shown at the ICA, Lux Biennial of Moving Image, Mumok Vienna, Warsaw Museum of Contemporary Art and the Design Museum, London. Ben Miller is a writer and researcher and a Doctoral Fellow at the Graduate School of Global Intellectual History at the Freie Universität Berlin. He has taught on queer history, literature, and visual cultures at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and The New Centre for Research & Practice. He has written for New York Times, Slate, Literary Hub, the Los Angeles Review of Books and Jacobin. His fiction has been published in SAND, Apogee Journal and Tin House. He is the author of The New Queer Photography.
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