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Gay Life and Culture, A World History

Gay Life and Culture is the first ever comprehensive, global account of gay and lesbian history. It is spectacularly illustrated throughout and includes an extensive selection of images, many of them only recently recovered.For thousands of years and all over the world, men and women have felt a desire for emotional and physical intimacy with those of their own sex. Their story, for many years forgotten, erased, ignored or rewritten, has in recent years become the focus of an extraordinary outpouring of research. Gay Life and Culture: A World History draws upon these findings to present a lively and thought-provoking account of what, until recently, could have been termed a secret history. In this extraordinarily wide-ranging book, historians from nine different countries consider the evidence for same-sex relationships throughout the centuries, charting shifting attitudes towards homosexuality and the gradual emergence of a concept of self-identity. Beginning with ancient Greece and Rome and continuing right up to the present day with its issues of gay rights, AIDS, and civil partnerships, this book also considers other, non-Western cultures, revealing the high variety of same-sex relationships through history and across the globe. The legacy left by these men and women has influenced contemporary attitudes towards sexuality and still affects the way many live their lives. This book is the only book to provide a complete overview of the long history out of which today's rich and varied gay culture has emerged.