Customer Reviews

Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present

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If you are interested in history, I highly suggest this book. Marginalized for eons, gay people are now an integral part of history. Relegated to the backburner, or whispered about in history sources, gay people have come forward with a great history. Within this collection, there are heartaches and triumphs, but always searching for the ideal of equality one day. Another good thing about this book is that it includes non-Western gay and lesbian history as well, yet another subject ignored by the "mainstream" history. An incredibly transfixing and fascinating book, I couldn't put it down, and read into the late hours of the evening.

Neil Miller's done a great job of pulling together aspects of (western) gay history. I've read some of the sources for his lesbian chapters and he uses them intelligently to summarise main points. I assume he's does the same with the male stuff and material from other countries which was previously unfamiliar to me. His style is readable, succinct and balanced about how we look at the past from our current viewpoints.

One feature of the book which is particularly pleasing is his use of extracts from writings he's referred to in his central text. This adds a good variety to the voice of the work AND the extracts are long enough (two or more pages in length) to inspire further study.

I also like A) the pictures of famous historical figures, there's something particularly moving about them, (I never knew Willa Cather was so gorgeous!)

and B) the balance of genders and countries covered is better than average.

My advice - read it!

This book is the BEST resource I have found on capturing the multi-faceted, insightful, humorous and moving stories of gay and lesbian history in our country (and abroad). As a professor of psychology, this is an invaluable text for numerous history classes. Kudos to Neal Miller for researching this rich, rich history, written in a manner that is imminently engaging and fascinating.

Past gay histories have suffered from similar deficiencies. Although Miller has made a commendable effort, as a college history professor, I see these problems abundantly present in Miller's narrative. The following is a brief list: Until the last twenty years or so few gay histories were written by historians and as such they were poorly documented, biased, rarely analytical, and in the case of Miller's very poorly edited. In particular, the typos in Miller's narrative are far too numerous. This could result from a dearth of interest in the field in major publishing houses.

The second is that the pre-World War II era was practiced and written about in private with a considerable interest in survivors of those who we fashion as gay in destroying documentation that might provide the primary resources to support the societal and legal pressures that prevent us from truly knowing the pain suffered within. The best gay histories certainly lie ahead but unless the absence of sound evidence to support autobiographical homosexuality can be overcome to replace speculation with fact, gay history will remain as locked as the mystery of the Lost Colony.

Thirdly, there is rare coverage of the marriage of practicing one's gayness with urbanization. Therefore, we get histories which neglect the blight of gayness in and to the rural/small town gay population and we reinvigorate the notion that urban equals gay freedom without showing the sociological implications that subvert the need to adopt a night culture, bar culture, entertainment culture, and an urban culture as gays are forced to submerge their inclinations to previous formative small town behavior patterns. In short, there are two adjustments to gay freedom: to the urban environment and to the open practice of being gay within that newly learned environment. This duality layers adaption for gays which is far more complex than it would be for heterosexuals who can always return to the small town world and practice their sexuality unchallenged. Gay historians have a very difficult time grappling with the birth of one culture and the death of another that every newly urbanized gay faces.

Miller also subscribes to the fallacy that the United States is still the major bastion of gay liberation. There is no comparable area in the United States that could match London, Berlin, or Amsterdam for gay freedom nor has the nation moved as a whole with the rapidity of other western countries to mainstream homosexualtiy. It is impossible to think of any major city in this country including San Francisco and New York where a same-sex couple could stroll every area of that city hand-in-hand and kiss at will without being fearful in some of those neighborhoods. Such freedom of expression exists in a number of European cities and small towns.

Also, it is quite disturbing to continue to treat the butch-femme coupling in lesbians without presenting a case that many lesbians do not parrot maleness in their relationships and abhor the idea of bonding with the penisless man.

Finally, the dawning of the Age of Gayquarius is rarely mentioned in gay histories. With each passing year I observe an increase in the number of students who approve of a gay marriage initiative, freedom of expression, and civil liberties for homosexuals. There undoubtedly is a New Progressive Era especially in the arena of personal liberties on the horizon. Authors give very little account of such trending. The time of police raids and gay baiting will soon be completely dead in Western countries. As transnationalism replaces globalization, the rest of the world will not lag far behind.

I've been reading this book (and using it as a main reference point for a thesis paper) when I noticed a few date and fact discrepancies. This book states things that are completely different from dozens of other sources I have, and maybe some of them are right, but I know, without a doubt that a few of them were wrong. And I just noticed one isolated incident, but if one error is there, I don't feel I can trust the validity of the rest of the book.

I am currently reading Out of the Past. It has given me an overview of the history of homosexuality. It has given me an understanding of how homosexuality was seen and reacted to in the past and how far the gay community has come. It also breaks it down in different societies such as; England, France, Germany and how each had its onw laws to keep the homosexuals down and treated as less than human. There were times when the homosexual were persecuted, imprisoned and punished for who they were. They were treated as if they were sick. They were also entramped, in other words they were set up and in doing so they would lose their jobs and blacklisted for future blackmailing. The homosexual community has come along way but it seems that they still have a long way to go. They are still shuned and don't share the legal rights as any other citizens. It seems that the law doesn't include them in the right to liberty and freedom as any heterosexual enjoys. The day that the homosexual community are totally accepted as part of the fabric of this world, only then will they enjoy total freedom and enjoy who they are for what they are no more and no less. They have a right not only because they are homosexual but because they are human beings just like me and you, like our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.

This was required for a class I took. I'm not a book reader so I only read what was required. Well written and does a good job of keeping you engaged in some topics. Great price for a lot of words. Even came with a book marker from the store who sent it.