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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
Good, but the tone wasn’t quite my thing- better as a podcast
I did originally DNF this but picked it back up because I'm renovating a house and need stuff to listen to. The introduction was promising but I found the next few chapters bland, the content a complete mismatch to what is promised by title and intro, and a lack of consistency in what seemed to be the authors' main argument. The final few chapters did really pick up and I found them much more interesting though.
Obviously historical preservation bias is difficult to research around, but you cannot use the lives of upper class and aristocratic white men to describe homosexual culture, especially when the author's argument has an element of "homosexuality wasn't an identity, a lot of gay sex was used for political power". I would have been much more interested in learning about the common people.
And also lowkey, Lawrence of Arabia pretty much outright said he's asexual, but this book never mentions that word in favour of just calling him gay.
Overall i think this is a book to pick and choose specific chapters that interest you.
Obviously historical preservation bias is difficult to research around, but you cannot use the lives of upper class and aristocratic white men to describe homosexual culture, especially when the author's argument has an element of "homosexuality wasn't an identity, a lot of gay sex was used for political power". I would have been much more interested in learning about the common people.
And also lowkey, Lawrence of Arabia pretty much outright said he's asexual, but this book never mentions that word in favour of just calling him gay.
Overall i think this is a book to pick and choose specific chapters that interest you.
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
learned some cool things. the last few chapters are the most insightful imo, esp the ones on Pim Fortuyn and Phillip Johnson. The conclusion was uplifting and didn’t leave me feeling sad or hopeless (yay). it was a bit more heady than I anticipated, but i enjoyed the perspectives in the book.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Very interesting, but quite challenging to read and covering a lot of difficult themes
I'm not sure what definition of bad is being used here. Legally bad at the time? Then Casement counts. In service to an Empire? Then yes to Lawrence. But it is very confusing. There is only one lesbian, and only one person who is not a white European or American. And must of the entries are well known.
But it is an entertaining read.
But it is an entertaining read.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book reads like a collection of short stories, and as a whole tells a nuanced story of how queerness has been intertwined with some of the worst aspects of Western history, as well as tales of gay people who were not palatable to the dominant culture and how conformity politics came to be in gay circles. There’s also a lot of information on how queer relationships were understood throughout Western history, which is fascinating. The book is eye-opening and entertaining, although it struggles to nail down exactly the point it’s trying to convey.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Antisemitism, Colonisation
I cried for some, slogged through others. Overall an interesting, effective, and yes at times quite funny mapping of dominant queer cultural concept and reactions over time.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation