An Evening at the Garden of Allah. A Gay Cabaret [Hardcover]

Don Paulson (Author), Roger Simpson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1996

An Evening at the Garden of Allah takes readers back in time with its vivid, exciting oral history of this shining moment in America's gay and lesbian past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A drag bar in Seattle? In the forties? Owned by gay men? My dear, the mind reels! I salute Paulson and Simpson for showing me a world I never knew existed. -- Quentin Crisp

A fascinating look back at gay cabaret that was a safe haven for sailors, studs, swishes, and sequins. -- Michael Musto, The Village Voice

Review

A fascinating look back at gay cabaret that was a safe haven for sailors, studs, swishes, and sequins.

(Michael Musto, The Village Voice )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231096984
• ISBN-13: 978-0231096980
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Literary Criticism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, Well-Written Cultural History, March 17, 2001

By 

"exdancer" - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Evening at the Garden of Allah. A Gay Cabaret (Hardcover)

What an amazing find this book was! The authors artfully unveil the little-known world of drag clubs in the Fourties - and let me tell you it's NOTHING like the drag world today. Full of artists who sang for themselves (no lip-sync here!) and took their art form very seriously, it really opens up your perspective on what it must have been like to be a gay person in that era. You get both a feel for the times and a perspective that makes you appreciate today.

Told as a series of short biographies of people and places of the day, it is very readable, accessible, and educational at the same time.

I highly recommend this book, and hope the authors are working on a sequel that covers the next era in Seattle's rich history!

5.0 out of 5 stars An Evening at the Garden of Allah, March 23, 2010

By 

W. Mathison "Sleepy in Seattle" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: An Evening at the Garden of Allah. A Gay Cabaret (Hardcover)

I loved this book. The Garden was before my time, but I knew of the other places and had seen one mentioned performer. It ties in so wonderfully with the political situation and other events in Seattle's history and reminds one of how much things have changed. I couldn't put it down until I'd finished. I bought 2 more copies for gifts, and one of my friends who borrowed it, ordered his own copy.