A review by seance
A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Around the World by R.B. Parkinson

4.0

this book functions like a miniature museum exhibit, showing various texts, objects and works of art from 9000 bc to the present day, and in its 128 pages it manages to give a brief rundown on lgbtq history – which i was expecting – mostly focusing on individual lives and perspectives, which i was not. (i was also pleasantly surprised by its diversity: it made an effort to cover cultures and ways of life all over the world, frequently drawing attention to the way colonialism has imposed homophobic attitudes on more tolerant societies.) what i found particularly lovely about this book is that it is intensely aware of the fact that history happens on a smaller scale, in the personal histories of people we will never meet and, for the most part, will never know anything about. it becomes both a testament to the fact that same-sex love has always existed and always will and an acknowledgement that this is the part of history we see – that there is so much more to it, particularly when it concerns lgbtq people.