Listen to a sample
Gay New York
- Author
- George Chauncey
- Narrator
- Graham Halstead
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Publish Date
- 21 May 2019
- Run Time
- 18 hours 40 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
Gay New York brilliantly shatters the myth that before the 1960s gay life existed in the closet, where all gay men were isolated, invisible, and ashamed. Based on years of research in diaries, letters, newspaper stories, and police reports, George Chauncey describes the saloons, speakeasies, and streets where queer men gathered; the intimate parties and immense drag balls where they celebrated; the highly visible residential enclaves they built in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and Times Square; and the complex prewar sexual culture they inhabited, which did not divide men into heterosexuals and homosexuals. It offers new perspectives on the LGBT rights revolution of our time by showing that the oppression the movement attacked in the 1960s was not unchanging, but had intensified in the 1930s as a direct response to the visibility of the prewar gay world.
Awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Organization of American Historians' prize for the best first book in any field of history upon its publication in 1994, Gay New York remains a revelatory account of a long-forgotten world and the most widely taught book in American LGBT history.
Critics Review
-
"Monumental...a vital achievement in redefining and reassessing gay history."—Washington Post
-
"One of the most fascinating works of American social history I've ever read."—Frank Rich, New York Times
-
"A first-rate book of history...about all urban life, telling us as much about the heterosexual world as about the homosexual one."—New York Times
-
"A stunning contribution not only to gay history, but to the study of urban life, class, gender--and heterosexuality."—Kirkus
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
"Gay New York isn't just the definitive history of gays in New York from 1890 through 1940; it's also a wonderful account of the metropolitan character of modern gayness itself."—L.A. Times
-
"A brilliantly researched gift of history...unassailable."—Boston Globe
-
"A brilliant ethnographic analysis."—The Nation
-
"The impact made by this richly textured study is powerful."—Publisher's Weekly
-
"It's the fun, more than anything--the pleasure, the parties, the high jinks, the sex, and, yes, the love that gay men bear one another--that shines through so brightly...[a book of] erudition, discernment, sympathy, and wit."—New York Observer
-
"Chauncey's genius is the way he combines real lives and theory...a sharp and readable analysis of the way boundaries between 'normal' and 'abnormal' men bent and blurred in the early parts of the century."—Out
-
"Even if you are not a devotee of theory or history, you will want to read Gay New York for its profusion of anecdotal detail--its coordinates of a Gay Atlantis, a buried city of Everard Baths, Harlem drag balls, and Vaseline alley. Chauncey has found evidence of a gay world whose complexity and cohesion no previous historian dared to imagine."—Wayne Koestenbaum, Los Angeles Times
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- George Chauncey
- Narrator
- Graham Halstead
- Duration
- 18 hours 40 minutes
- Release Date
- 21 May 2019
- ISBN
- 9781549148323
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Hachette Audio
- Genre
- LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies, Social and cultural history, History of the Americas, LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies, General and world history, History of the Americas, Local history, Social theory, Urban communities
Synopsis
The “monumental” (The Washington Post), field-defining history of gay life in New York City in the early to mid-20th century  Gay New York brilliantly shatters the myth that before the 1960s gay life existed in the closet, where all gay men were isolated, invisible, and ashamed. Based on years of research in diaries, letters, newspaper stories, and police reports, George Chauncey describes the saloons, speakeasies, and streets where queer men gathered; the intimate parties and immense drag balls where they celebrated; the highly visible residential enclaves they built in Greenwich Village, Harlem, and Times Square; and the complex prewar sexual culture they inhabited, which did not divide men into heterosexuals and homosexuals. It offers new perspectives on the LGBT rights revolution of our time by showing that the oppression the movement attacked in the 1960s was not unchanging, but had intensified in the 1930s as a direct response to the visibility of the prewar gay world.   Awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Organization of American Historians' prize for the best first book in any field of history upon its publication in 1994, Gay New York remains a revelatory account of a long-forgotten world and the most widely taught book in American LGBT history.
About xigxag
xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK's only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.
There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at $13.95. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from $7.95. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.
Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.
Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.