Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Robert Aldrich (Editor), Garry Wotherspoon (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415159830 | ISBN-13: 978-0415159838 | Publication Date: February 21, 2003 | Edition: 2

Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century is a comprehensive and fascinating survey of the key figures in gay and lesbian history from classical times to the mid-twentieth century. Among those included are:
* Classical heroes - Achilles; Aeneas; Ganymede
* Literary giants - Sappho; Christopher Marlowe; Arthur Rimbaud; Oscar Wilde
* Royalty and politicians - Edward II; King James I; Horace Walpole; Michel de Montaigne.
Over the course of some 500 entries, expert contributors provide a complete and vivid picture of gay and lesbian life in the Western world throughout the ages.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A good job of an impossible task, looking beyond the borders of North America, Australia and northern Europe to include people who have made important contributions from outside the gay and lesbian mainstream.' - Diva

'As entertaining as it is informative sets a standard in gay dictionaries and encyclopedias that others should note and follow. Highly recommended.' - Gay Times

About the Author

Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon are lecturers in history at the University of Sydney.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (February 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415159830
• ISBN-13: 978-0415159838
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1.5 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: #1,468,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A "Who's Who" about who was, August 6, 2009

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Eero Richmond (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century (Paperback)

Get out your magnifying glass, folks! The print in this book is VERY tiny. But packed in its 500+ pages is a wealth of information about who was gay, may have been gay, is assumed to have been gay, etc. etc. The latter categories, while interesting to have been included, certainly raise a few questions for the reader (John Singer Sargent? Henry James? St. Paul? Jesus? - these are obviously only surmises). It's true, of course. that in earlier centuries those who knew "the love that dare not speak its name" often did not openly speak about it!

Thumbing through this book, one immediately thinks of scores of homosexual men and women throughout history who are not included here. As the Introduction states, however, " ... there are an infinite number of entries that one might include, but only a finite number of pages." The focus here is primarily on the Western World, with British, Italian, French, American, and German gay (or thought to be gay) men and women predominating. The editors, Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, both at the University of Sydney, Australia, have solicited entries from scholars throughout the world. Each biographical entry includes a brief, but very useful, bibliography. An interesting, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately very enjoyable "Who's Who" about who was. Recommended.