num_pages: 368
description: "A brilliant work of social archaeology....A major historical contribution."―Adam Goodheart, The New York Times Book Review The nineteenth century was a golden age for those people known variously as sodomites, Uranians, monosexuals, and homosexuals. Long before Stonewall and Gay Pride, there was such a thing as gay culture, and it was recognized throughout Europe and America. Graham Robb, brilliant biographer of Balzac, Hugo, and Rimbaud, examines how homosexuals were treated by society and finds a tale of surprising tolerance. He describes the lives of gay men and women: how they discovered their sexuality and accepted or disguised it; how they came out; how they made contact with like-minded people. He also includes a fascinating investigation of the encrypted homosexuality of such famous nineteenth-century sleuths as Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes himself (with glances forward in time to Batman and J. Edgar Hoover). Finally, Strangers addresses crucial questions of gay culture, including the riddle of its relationship to religion: Why were homosexuals created with feelings that the Creator supposedly condemns? This is a landmark work, full of tolerant wisdom, fresh research, and surprises.31 illustrations
language: English
title: Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century
titlecomplete: Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century
genres: Historical, Nonfiction, Victorian, LGBT, History, Research, 19th Century, Gay, Queer, Sexuality
ratings_count: 473
awards: awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Randy Shilts Award
category: Gay Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: Criticism
publisher: W. W. Norton  Company