num_pages: 256
description: In 1918 the Vigilante newspaper claimed that the German Secret Service held a book containing the names of 47,000 British establishment members who were sexual perverts. It was claimed Britain was losing the war because the Germans were blackmailing these figures and thereby sapping the country's strength. The Vigilante was exploiting popular belief that Britain had become a decadent state still in thrall to the perverted cult of Oscar Wilde. The extreme right wing politics of the newspaper's publisher were becoming dangerously popular and in the sensational libel trial that followed many high society members were drawn in. Wilde's devoted friend Robbie Ross and his one time lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, both became embroiled in the bitter battle over Wilde's reputation.
language: English
title: Wilde's last stand: Decadence, conspiracy & the First World War
titlecomplete: Wilde's last stand: Decadence, conspiracy & the First World War
genres: Historical, Biography, Queer, LGBT, Drama, Nonfiction, Gay, Literature, Biography Memoir, History
ratings_count: 133
publisher: London : Duckworth