Ackroyd, Peter
Queer City : Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day
Queer City : Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day
Couldn't load pickup availability
Author: Ackroyd, Peter
British & Irish history
Published on 24 May 2018 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom.
Paperback / softback | 272 pages
138 x 197 x 19 | 260g
‘Droll, provocative and crammed to busting with startling facts’ Simon Callow, GuardianIn this powerful Sunday Times bestseller Peter Ackroyd looks at London in a whole new way – through the history and experiences of its gay population.
In Roman Londinium the city was dotted with lupanaria (‘wolf dens’ or public pleasure houses), fornices (brothels) and thermiae (hot baths). Then came the Emperor Constantine, with his bishops, monks and missionaries. And so began an endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure.
Ackroyd takes us right into the hidden history of the city; from the notorious Normans to the frenzy of executions for sodomy in the early nineteenth century. He journeys through the coffee bars of sixties Soho to Gay Liberation, disco music and the horror of AIDS.
Today, we live in an era of openness and tolerance and Queer London has become part of the new norm. Ackroyd tells us the hidden story of how it got there, celebrating its diversity, thrills and energy on the one hand; but reminding us of its very real terrors, dangers and risks on the other.
If you cannot find the book you're after, please click here.
View full details