Queer City

*** A Sunday Times Bestseller ***In Roman Londinium the city was dotted with lupanaria ('wolf dens' or public pleasure houses), fornices (brothels) and thermiae (hot baths). Then came the Emperor Constantine, with his bishops, monks and missionaries. And so began an endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure.Ackroyd takes us right into the hidden history of the city; from the notorious Normans to the frenzy of executions for sodomy in the early nineteenth century. He journeys through the coffee bars of sixties Soho to Gay Liberation, disco music and the horror of AIDS.Today, we live in an era of openness and tolerance and Queer London has become part of the new norm. Ackroyd tells us the hidden story of how it got there, celebrating its diversity, thrills and energy on the one hand; but reminding us of its very real terrors, dangers and risks on the other.

Report

After his mammoth, shamanic aria London: the Biography, the remarkable writer Peter Ackroyd has produced a nimble, uproarious pocket history of sex in his beloved metropolis Alasdair Lees Independent

Product details

• Authors: Peter Ackroyd
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 24.05.2018
• EAN: 9780099592945
• ISBN: 978-0-09-959294-5
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 198 mm x 18 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Travel > Travelogues, traveller's tales; London, Greater London, European History, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban, British & Irish history, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Social and cultural history, Religious intolerance, persecution and conflict, Religious intolerance, persecution & conflict, Urban communities, Of specific Gay interest