Lou

I was assigned a chapter of this book in university, loved it, and only now got around to actually reading the book it came from. This is one of those nonfiction books that explains why the modern world is the way it is in a way that just rings true. A bit dry at times, sure, but on the whole this book is accessibly written for an academic text, while also being impressively precise in its argument (ie. the author doesn't make logical leaps to impose his worldview on the reader or to apply it to broader contexts, but there is room left for readers to do that themselves). I'll add that this was basically my whole urban studies degree in a nutshell. Clearly multiple of my professors were very influenced by James Scott's work. I think that everybody should read this book and cannot recommend it highly enough.

A cute page-turner of an M/M romance well grounded in its historical setting. I picked this up because KJ Charles reccomended it and indeed it has a similar feel to one of her books (which is a compliment). I still don't understand how the title relates to the plot, but oh well.

Each chapter is a biography of a historical queer person: long enough to be pretty detailed, but short enough not to be boring. I don't think the book always stuck to it's premise of "bad" gays, that is, figures who aren't usually remembered in terms of their gayness and aren't claimed by the queer community because they would make us look bad. Some, like Aretino, were by the authors' own admission not particularly "bad", and others, like Röhm, while definetly "bad", are very much talked about in terms of their gayness. I also think this book was pretty light on analysis and oftentimes the analysis that was there, while always true and good, didn't really contribute to a larger argument. Still, the conversational tone makes this a pretty easy read for a nonfiction book and it would probably have been far more impactful for someone who hasn't already done a lot of reading about queer history. I feel like most of my criticism comes from already having read about certain historical figures in more detail elsewhere, which I can't really fault the book for. If you're on the fence, I'd give it a go since it was certainly enjoyable.

Beautiful prose, but the lack of any plot made this tough to finish. I also never really bought into the main character, who felt very, "woman written by a man." I suppose this book has some interesting things to say about nostalgia and modernization, but I found I Served The King of England by the same author a far better read.