Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest [Paperback]

Peter Boag (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520240480 | ISBN-13: 978-0520240483 | Publication Date: August 14, 2003 | Edition: 1

At the turn of the twentieth century, two distinct, yet at times overlapping, male same-sex sexual subcultures had emerged in the Pacific Northwest: one among the men and boys who toiled in the region's logging, fishing, mining, farming, and railroad-building industries; the other among the young urban white-collar workers of the emerging corporate order. Boag draws on police logs, court records, and newspaper accounts to create a vivid picture of the lives of these men and youths--their sexual practices, cultural networks, cross-class relations, variations in rural and urban experiences, and ethnic and racial influences.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"The product of rigorous research and thinking, Same-Sex Affairs assesses the shifting meanings of homosexuality for different classes of gay men, and for "mainstream" society, between 1890 and 1930. While establishing that the Northwest provided a distinctive context for constructions of male, same-sex sex, Boag also uses evidence from the region to refine understandings of the practice and significance of homosexuality at the national level. Same-Sex Affairs makes important contributions to the history of both the western United States and modern American sexuality."--John Findlay, author of Magic Lands

"This is an important work, taking Western history in entirely new directions. Peter Boag demonstrates his judiciousness, his care, with an impressive set of largely overlooked and underutilized sources. And those sources reveal remarkable tales. There is verve, an excitement, in both the ordinariness of everyday life and the extraordinary circumstances of scandal. Historians of sexuality in particular will ponder this book's insights for some time to come. It is a provocative study, rich in documentation, and extremely significant in terms of analytic impact."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History

About the Author

Peter Boag is Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Environment and Experience: Settlement Culture in Nineteenth-Century Oregon (California, 1992).

Product Details

• Paperback: 335 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (August 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520240480
• ISBN-13: 978-0520240483
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,482,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Boag was born and raised in Portland, Oregon (at a time when Portland was not so hip as it is today). He attended the University of Portland (BA 1983), and for graduate school attended the University of California, Irvine, and the University of Oregon (PhD 1988). He served on the faculty at Idaho State University (1989-2002) and the University of Colorado, Boulder (2002-2009). Since 2009 he has held the Columbia Chair in the History of the American West at Washington State University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A scandal laid bare, November 6, 2011

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Duva - See all my reviews

This review is from: Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest (Paperback)

Same-Sex Affairs is a fascinating look at the rise of urban homosexuality in the early 20th Century.

The book is built around the 1912 YMCA Scandal in Portland, Ore., a little known and poorly documented story that dominated newspapers of the day, in particular E.W. Scripps' newspaper, The Portland News.

Using many never-before seen historical documents, this book details the politics and pressures in Progressive Era Portland on the homosexual community. Further, it shows that politics played a far bigger role than sexuality in the scandal.

An academic treatment of this important event, done in the finest fashion, Same-Sex Affairs is a great addition to any library.