Lou
Each chapter is a biography of a historical man who had sex with men (and therefore by modern standards could probably be described as gay). I don't think the book always stuck to it's premise of "bad" gays, that is, figures who aren't usually talked about in terms of their gayness because they would make us look bad. Some, like Aretino, were by the authors' own admission not especially "bad" and others, like Röhm, while "bad", are very much talked about in terms of their gayness. I also think this book was pretty light on analysis, despite the claims made in the introduction. Still, the conversational tone that makes it pretty easy to read for a nonfiction book and it would probably be a good entry point for someone who hasn't done a lot of reading about queer history. I feel like most of my criticism comes from already having read about certain figures in more detail elsewhere, which I can't really fault the book for.
Each chapter is a biography of a historical man who had sex with men (and therefore by modern standards could probably be described as gay). I don't think the book always stuck to it's premise of "bad" gays, that is, figures who aren't usually talked about in terms of their gayness because they would make us look bad. Some, like Aretino, were by the authors' own admission not especially "bad" and others, like Röhm, while "bad", are very much talked about in terms of their gayness. I also think this book was pretty light on analysis, despite the claims made in the introduction. Still, the conversational tone that makes it pretty easy to read for a nonfiction book and it would probably be a good entry point for someone who hasn't done a lot of reading about queer history. I feel like most of my criticism comes from already having read about certain figures in more detail elsewhere, which I can't really fault the book for.