Books like Queer London by Matt Houlbrook

A groundbreaking history of gay life in New York City from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Michael Bronski’s *A Queer History of the United States* traces how LGBT people have shaped and been shaped by American culture from Columbus to the 20th‑century social‑justice movements, using primary documents and social histories.

John Boswell examines how same‑sex unions were socially accepted throughout much of Medieval Christian Europe, exploring linguistic challenges and broader marital contexts in the Classical and early Christian worlds.

A historical overview of New York’s gay bar culture, exploring the lives of gay men and the evolution of LGBTQ spaces.

A scholarly examination of gay Americans in the U.S. armed forces during World War II, tracing the dynamic power struggle between homosexual citizens and the military and its lasting impact on U.S. defense policy.

Cherry Grove, Fire Island chronicles the oldest continuous gay and lesbian resort in America, where freedom to live openly and peacefully was forged in the 20th‑century coastal community.

A groundbreaking history of gay male identity in the United States, from World War I to the AIDS era.

In The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde, Neil McKenna provides stunning new insight into the tumultuous sexual and psychological worlds of this brilliant and tormented figure. McKenna charts Wilde's astonishing odyssey through London's sexual underworld, and provides explosive new evidence of the political machinations behind Wilde's trials for sodomy. Dazzlingly written and meticulously researched, The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde offers a vividly original portrait of a troubled genius who chose to martyr himself for the cause of love between men.

Graham Robb reveals a rich, historically grounded portrait of Victorian male and female homosexuality, drawing on European and American archives to dispel myths and spotlight a sophisticated subculture of oppression, secrecy, and unexpected tolerance.

Jeffrey Dahmer. Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Over the past thirty years, serial killers have become iconic figures in America, the subject of made-for-TV movies and mass-market paperbacks alike. But why do we find such luridly transgressive and horrific individuals so fascinating? What compels us to look more closely at these figures when we really want to look away? Natural Born Celebrities considers how serial killers have become lionized in American culture and explores the consequences of their fame.David Schmid provides a historical account of how serial killers became famous and how that fame has been used in popular media and the corridors of the FBI alike. Ranging from H. H. Holmes, whose killing spree during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair inspired The Devil in the White City, right up to Aileen Wuornos, the lesbian prostitute whose vicious murder of seven men would serve as the basis for the hit film Monster, Schmid unveils a new understanding of serial killers by emphasizing both the social dimensions of their crimes and their susceptibility to multiple interpretations and uses. He also explores why serial killers have become endemic in popular culture, from their depiction in The Silence of the Lambs and The X-Files to their becoming the stuff of trading cards and even Web sites where you can buy their hair and nail clippings.Bringing his fascinating history right up to the present, Schmid ultimately argues that America needs the perversely familiar figure of the serial killer now more than ever to manage the fear posed by Osama bin Laden since September 11."This is a persuasively argued, meticulously researched, and compelling examination of the media phenomenon of the 'celebrity criminal' in American culture. It is highly readable as well."—Joyce Carol Oates