ionm 's review for:

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the present day by Peter Ackroyd

2.0

informative reflective medium-paced

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This is an excellent historical account of sexual diversity in London, but also the whole of Britain throughout the ages. Homosexuality was rarely the accepted norm of contemporary times, and it is great to see that Ackroyd focused on this current period nearly proportional to the time in history it took us to get here. What is more remarkable is how he identifies what the key drivers were at each point that led to the specific contemporary view towards sexual habits. Individual freedom to exercise one's identity might have been the norm during Celtic, Roman and Norman times, but then it was to be persecuted gravely as a result of political interest during the Tudor period, Christian insecurity in the years to follow, and the hetero normative thinking of the Victorian age. With a sympathetic, yet neutral eye, Ackroyd left us with an account that would hopefully not just enlighten us, but might help us to never repeat the ills of history.