Ah, non-fiction. I rarely read non-fiction, and when I do read it I tend to read biographies and not finish them . . . but I'm currently dividing my time between two fairly enjoyable non-fiction books, The Gay Metropolis and How to Get a Freelance Life. Good times.
Charles Kaiser's The Gay Metropolis: 1940-1996, a history of gay life centered in New York, is packed with tales of writers and literature. Kaiser provides a kaleidoscope of details and stories that create a vision of how gay people lived, and illuminates a culture that had enormous influence on both New York and American society. Kaiser writes about such luminaries as Gore Vidal, Edward Albee, Truman Capote, and James Baldwin, but the real drive of The Gay Metropolis is how gay art and writings transformed the lives of everyday gay people. By the end of the book it is clear that gay artistic influence has transformed the American metropolis for both heterosexuals and homosexuals.
"Gay Metropolis" is GREAT. Charles Kaiser knows his stuff and shows that there was a gay underground in many major cities long before anyone else knew about it. His stuff on NYC is required. A good companion book is "Gay New York" by George Chauncey.
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What's the Gay Metropolis about? Besides the obvious.
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Charles Kaiser's The Gay Metropolis: 1940-1996, a history of gay life centered in New York, is packed with tales of writers and literature. Kaiser provides a kaleidoscope of details and stories that create a vision of how gay people lived, and illuminates a culture that had enormous influence on both New York and American society. Kaiser writes about such luminaries as Gore Vidal, Edward Albee, Truman Capote, and James Baldwin, but the real drive of The Gay Metropolis is how gay art and writings transformed the lives of everyday gay people. By the end of the book it is clear that gay artistic influence has transformed the American metropolis for both heterosexuals and homosexuals.
I just finished the section about Studio 54.
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his stuff and shows that there was a gay underground
in many major cities long before anyone else knew
about it. His stuff on NYC is required. A good
companion book is "Gay New York" by George Chauncey.
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Yeah, I picked it up at a used book store a couple months ago . . . I definitely recommend it.
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