Books like City of Friends by Simon LeVay

A Little Life follows four college friends in New York as they confront trauma, love and the enduring scars of their pasts, weaving themes of friendship, family, and identity into a profound coming‑of‑age story.

A true story of MIT students who built a famed Las Vegas gambling syndicate, turning academic theory into lucrative card‑sharpening exploits.

David Brooks examines the forces that drive people's success and the social structures that shape achievement, offering insights into personality, social status, and mobility in America.

Seventeen‑year‑old Simon Spier struggles to conceal his sexuality while online, where he falls for an unknown classmate. Balancing secrecy, friendship, and a budding romantic mystery makes for a heartfelt, comedic, and transformative journey.

A photographic journey through late‑1980s America that captures the varied lives of gay and lesbian communities, illustrating their efforts to form families, reconcile faith, and confront both racism and homophobia.

There is more to identity than identifying with one’s culture or standing solidly against it. José Esteban Muñoz looks at how those outside the racial and sexual mainstream negotiate majority culture—not by aligning themselves with or against exclusionary works but rather by transforming these works for their own cultural purposes. Muñoz calls this process “disidentification,” and through a study of its workings, he develops a new perspective on minority performance, survival, and activism.

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 book that reveals the shocking problem of anti-gay/lesbian violence.

**From Publishers Weekly:** Miller ( In Search of Gay America ) traveled for two and a half years through 12 countries, observing gay and lesbian life. This crisply written report underscores sharp cultural differences as it moves from Denmark, where homosexual partnerships enjoy virtually the same legal status as heterosexual marriage, to Argentina, which is home to entrenched, violent, socially sanctioned prejudice against homosexuality. In Japan, Thailand and Egypt, Miller encountered cultures in which same-sex relations have traditionally been accepted, while the larger fact of people's gay identities has been denied. In Australia, he found extremely enlightened AIDS policies. Among Australian Aborigines, black or mixed-race South Africans, and Maoris in New Zealand, he pondered the dilemma faced by people struggling to combine gay awareness with cultural and racial identities. In reunited Germany and post-1989 Czechoslovakia, Miller noted considerable political tolerance toward gays and lesbians. His compelling survey documents the international effects of the AIDS epidemic in forging gay community. Author tour. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. **From Library Journal:** Continuing in the style of his prize-winning In Search of Gay America ( LJ 4/15/89), Miller extends his examination of lesbian and gay life to 12 nations on five continents. From police repression of gay gatherings in Argentina to government-sanctioned marriages of same-sex couples in Denmark, Miller relates stories of both closeted and openly gay individuals. Interviewees share how their respective cultures have enabled or inhibited them from expressing their affections. In the face of oppression, the indomitable spirit of lesbians and gay men the world over is revealed. Miller acknowledges the book's slant toward the gay male experience, having found it difficult to contact as many lesbians as he wished. Still, more than any other, this work offers keen insight into the diversity and commonality of international gay life. Out in the World is highly recommended for public and ac ademic libraries. - Stephen Newcomer, Los Angeles P.L. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Families We Choose examines how gay men and lesbians build their own family networks, drawing on love, friendship, biology and cultural symbolism in a sociological study of contemporary kinship.

"Through a series of urban case studies, Queer Cities, Queer Cultures examines the articulation of particular subcultures and forms of expression with the broader stories we tell about postwar Europe and particular watershed moments. It considers queer life in the selected cities in relation to the advent and end of Cold War polarization, and considers the degree to which the iconic events of 1945, 1968, and 1989 influenced the social and sexual climate of the ensuing decades. It raises questions about the form and structure of the 1960s sexual revolution, and forces us to think about how we define sexual liberalization and where, how and on whose terms it occurs. The book also explores the role of America in shaping particular forms of subculture; the significance of changes in legal codes; modes of queer consumption and displays of community; the difficult fit of queer (as opposed to gay and lesbian) politics in liberal democracies; the challenge of AIDS; and the arrival of the Internet."--