Product Description

Covering nearly a thousand years from the Norman Conquest to the internet age, this is a history rich in personalities, not only public figures like Richard Lionheart or Derek Jarman, but also little-known individuals such as Eleanor, a cross-dresser in Chaucer s England, and Mark Partridge, branded a mollying bitch in eighteenth-century London. A Gay History of Britain tells their stories against a shifting historical background of changing laws, fluctuations of popular prejudice, and unexpectedly influential events, such as the coming of the railways. It also poses some intriguing and crucial questions. Did Richard Lionheart, Eleanor, Mark Partridge and Derek Jarman share a sense of sexual identity? How differently did the mollies of the eighteenth-century and the twentieth-century activists of Outrage! think of themselves? What links and divides the vivid expression of homosexuality in the playhouses of Renaissance London and the secrets and scandals of Victorian England? Drawing on a fabulous wealth of research, the authors each an expert in his field have worked closely together to deliver a compelling and eye-opening exploration of the many different ways in which British men have expressed their love and desire for one another.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180302 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
A valuable, long-overdue addition to the canon of gay history. GAY TIMES --Gay Times

[A] substantial, moving and significant [story], well captured in an impressive book... THE INDEPENDENT --The Independent

[A] thorough and fascinating glimpse back at gay life in the UK over the last 1,000 years... a landmark achievement, shedding light on a section of history too often ignored or overlooked. OUT IN THE CITY --Out in the City

Synopsis
"A Gay History of Britain", the new standard history of love and desire between men in Britain, is a landmark achievement. Covering nearly a thousand years from the Norman Conquest to the internet age, it is a history rich in personalities, not only public figures like Richard the Lionheart or Derek Jarman, but also little-known individuals such as 'Eleanor', a cross-dresser in Chaucer's England, and Mark Partridge, branded a 'mollying bitch' in eighteenth-century London. "A Gay History of Britain" tells their stories against a shifting historical background of changing laws, fluctuations of popular prejudice, and unexpectedly influential events, such as the coming of the railways. Drawing on a fabulous wealth of research, the authors - each an expert in his field - have worked closely together to deliver a constantly absorbing, highly-readable narrative. Broad in its coverage but nuanced in its detail - including never-before-seen illustrations - it is a compelling and eye-opening exploration of the many different ways in which British men have expressed their love and desire for one another.

About the Author
Matt Cook is Lecturer in History at Birkbeck College, London, and author of London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885- 1914 (2003). Robert Mills is Lecturer in English at Kings College, London, and the author of Suspended Animation: Pain, Pleasure and the Penal Imaginary in Late Medieval Art and Culture (2005). Randolph Trumbach is Professor of History at Baruch College, New York; his books include Sex and the Gender Revolution (1998 and 2006). Harry Cocks is a former Lecturer in British History at Birkbeck College, London, and the author of Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in 19th Century England (2003).