A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages

Oxford: Greenwood World Publishing, 2007. First ed., first printing (full number line). xiv, 256 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates: illustrations (black and white); 24 cm Very fine as new, in fine jacket with wee bit of wear to spein foot; now in archival mylar. Hardcover. ISBN: 9781846450020, 1846450020

"Covering nearly a thousand years from the Norman Conquest to the Internet age, it is a history rich in personalities, not only public figures like Richard Lionheart or Derek Jarman, but also little-known individuals such as 'Eleanor', a cross-dresser in Chaucer's England, and Mark Partridge, branded a 'mollying bitch' in eighteenth-century London. A Gay history of Britain tells their stories against a shifting historical background of changing laws, fluctuations of popular prejudice, and unexpectedly influential events, such as the coming of the railways." "Drawing on a wealth of research, the authors - each an expert in his field - have worked closely together to deliver a highly-readable narrative. Broad in its coverage but nuanced in its detail - including never-before-seen illustrations - it is an eye-opening exploration of the many different ways in which British men have expressed their love and desire for one another."--JacketContents: Male-male love and sex in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500 / Robert Mills. Renaissance sodomy, 1500-1700 / Randolph Trumbach. Modern sodomy: the origins of homosexuality, 1700-1800 / Randolph Trumbach. Secrets, crimes, and diseases, 1800-1914 / H.G. Cocks. Queer conflicts: love, sex and war, 1914-1967 / Matt Cook. From gay reform to gaydar, 1967-2006 / Matt Cook.