Product Description

Over the course of some 500 entries, expert contributors provide a complete and vivid picture of gay and lesbian life in the Western world throughout the ages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #339571 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
'A good job of an impossible task, looking beyond the borders of North America, Australia and northern Europe to include people who have made important contributions from outside the gay and lesbian mainstream.' - Diva

'As entertaining as it is informative sets a standard in gay dictionaries and encyclopedias that others should note and follow. Highly recommended.' - Gay Times

From the Back Cover
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About the Author
Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon are lecturers in history at the University of Sydney.

Customer Reviews

Hidden From History

The editors of this book acknowledge the categorisation of individuals by a single trait is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the danger that gossip can appear as fact. They justify their enterprise on the grounds that the book provides a reference work for the general reader and scholar alike.

The purpose of the volume appears to be to provide an ongoing canon of reference material for those involved in gender studies. The editors include non homosexual figures such as St Paul and Sigmund Freud because they are perceived to have made contributions to gay and lesbian history and culture.

The editors are critical of earlier works which they suggest looked for evidence that some historical figure or other was "one of us" (as they express it) but commit the same error in several instances by failing to distinguish between close same sex friendships and physical relationships.

Numerous persons listed are included as potential homosexuals without much hard evidence and, while undertaking further research, I noticed the word "rumoured" appeared in several other sources but was absent from this particular volume. Some contributors appear to have been motivated to prove a point rather than search for historical evidence.

There have been many creative people in the arts who were gay, lesbian or bisexual but there is so much sexual activity of all kinds now available on the Internet, that the notion of homosexuality being socially or artistically shocking has been overtaken by time.

Much opposition to same sex relationships has come from those who prefer discretion to open expressions of sexuality. The oft misquoted comment "not in front of the horses" reflects social values which implicitly acknowledge the existence of gay relationships, even when illegal, but opposes the flouting of sexuality in the public arena.

Prewar tennis player Bill Tilden was a case in point, just as, in heterosexual terms, the activities of the band leader Jack Hylton, who died in 1965, was another. Their sexual proclivities were well known but Tilden was a blatant chaser of young boys, Hylton a discrete womaniser.

Emphasis on one aspect of individual personality leads to a misunderstanding of gender terms themselves while historical evidence for gay and lesbian activity frequently appears to have been wrenched from its proper historical context.

I've given the book four stars because it does serve as the introductory reference work the authors want it to be. Checking out some of its references I became acquainted with a variety of works on Gay and Lesbian history of which I had never heard, despite my general awareness of the history of the relevant period. Whether it is as definitive as it should be is for those for whom gender studies are an interest, or specialism, to judge.

However, I found some entries flirted cavalierly with an unjustifiable rewriting of history and am inclined to go beyond this brief introduction to more in-depth studies to ensure accuracy. However, as a starting point it's as good a place as any.