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Gay Life & Culture: A World History
from: Universe
List Price: $49.95Our Price: $32.97 You Save: $16.98 (34%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.76609
EAN: 9780789315113
ISBN: 0789315114
Label: Universe
Manufacturer: Universe
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: October 31, 2006
Publisher: Universe
Release Date: October 31, 2006
Studio: Universe
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Editorial Review:
In the years since Stonewall, the world has witnessed an outpouring of research, critical inquiry, and re-interpretation of gay life and culture. This book draws on groundbreaking new material to present a comprehensive survey of all things gay, stretching back to ancient Sumeria and ranging to the present day. Critically acclaimed historian Robert Aldrich and ten leading scholars juxtapose thought-provoking essays with an extensive selection of images, many never before seen. This masterful combination reveals the story behind gay culture from the industrialized world to the remotest corners of tribal New Guinea. Among the contributors are noted names in GLBT studies such as Brett Beemyn (author of Bisexuality in the Lives of Men), Charles Hupperts (expert on classical antiquity at the University of Amsterdam), Helmut Puff (University of Michigan expert on the medieval world), and Florence Temagne (author of A History of Homosexuality in Europe). The book covers such topics as the Old Testament relationship between Jonathan and David, the Age of Confucius, Native American berdaches, Polynesian mahus, Berlin in the '20s, Stonewall and the disco-flavored hedonism that followed, and the advent of AIDS, Act Up, and Angels in America. This book is an important contribution to understanding what makes gay life and culture universal throughout human culture and across time.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Gay studies essential #1
This collection of intriguing articles by highly reputable academics is an seminal work, essential to anyone with an interest with identity formation or gender studies. I have used it in the field of health policy. However, there is no need to have a professional background or tertiary degree, or to be gay, to enjoy this intriguing guide through eras and societies. A great book to be enjoyed on many levels.
Buy it.
Rating: - More than a Coffee Table Book
An excellent pictorial tour through the centuries on fine paper, with easy top understand prose, and plenty of references for further research and reading.
However, I am not sure that averything should be looked at from our contemporary narrow view of what constitutes 'gay'. The term is a dis-service for men who (occasionally) like men - appreciating the beauty or the person they see. Which has nothing to do with sexual orinetation. In those terms the gay label has put everyone either ... Read More
Rating:  - A Visual Feast, An Incredible Read
A Visual Feast, An Incredible Read
Aldrich, Robert, editor. "Gay Life and Culture". Universe Publishing, 2006.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
I received a book today that is one of the most beautifully laid out books I have ever seen, "Gay Life and Culture" edited by Robert Aldrich. If you are looking for the perfect holiday gift for someone special, look no further. This is it. It is a big coffee table book with a big price, $49.95, but worth every penny.
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Rating:  - Crompton's book is much better
I am assuming that most readers do not have infinite space on their bookshelves. If you want an excellent one-volume overview, the place to get it is Crompton's "Homosexuality and Civilization" -- not here.
If you want a volume filled with sumptuous pictures, may I suggest "L'Amour Bleu," a supposedly "out-of-print" book which keeps being continually reprinted?
The book under review is much weaker, in all respects.
Rating: - A mixed bag
Many books purporting to offer a history of homosexuality concentrate mainly on the last two centuries in Europe and North America. Since many readers of such books are interested in self-understanding, this bias is understandable. Unfortunately, it is supported by a mistaken theory known as Social Construction which holds, in essence, that there was no homosexuality before ca. 1870 and then only in European countries. In his introduction Robert Aldrich rightly eschews this error. His book includes ... Read More
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