Synopses & Reviews
The only study of gay male history covering the United States since World War I.
Based on hundreds of interviews, new and classic texts, and little-known archival sources, an award-winning writer offers the first narrative history to consider signal moments, general trs, and the multiple meanings of "gay identity" in the whole United States from World War I to the AIDS era and "queer" activism.
The most readable, authoritative, and comprehensive investigation ever, The Other Side of Silence combines history and anecdote, politics and theory to reveal the personalities and textures of a largely unknown culture. A dramatic chronicle of seventy-five years of persecution and accomplishment, the book addresses both in equal detail: witch hunts in schools and the military, crusades of psychiatrists, the resistance long before Stonewall, the inspiring pioneers and activists.
From Newport and the private-party networks of Nebraska and Florida's Emma Jones Society to gay rodeos, athletes, and support groups, here are first-hand accounts of what it has meant (and might mean in the future) to be a sexual outsider in the United States.
Review
Outstanding Academic Book, 1998 (Choice)
"Exceptionally rich history by almost any standard . . . Extraordinary . . . Loughery has added a powerful voice to the chorus making sure that speech triumphs over silence." (Warren Goldstein, The New York Times Book Review)
"In this sweeping and rich history, John Loughery demonstrates how gay male communities and identities have been constantly refashioned in 20th-century America. Looking at gay men from the of World War I to the early 1990s, he shows that, fatuous stereotypes notwithstanding, there is not (and there has never been) any such animal as the gay man. . . . Diverse and protean, gay men do have something of a shared past. Gay history, as Loughery chronicles it, is one of horrous persecution, brave battles, and hard-won victories . . . almost a century of gay history in one very readable volume." (Lillian Faderman, The Washington Post)
Synopsis
Based on hundreds of interviews, new and classic texts, and little-known archival sources, an award-winning writer offers the first narrative history to consider the multiple meanings of "gay identity" in the whole United States.
About the Author
Hailed by Jonathan Yardley as a "balanced, discriminating, and, in the best sense of the word, sympathetic" writer, John Loughery is the author of Alias S. S. Van Dine and the Pulitzer Prize-finalist John Sloan (Owl Books, 0-8050-5221-6). He lives in New York City.