Before Wilde: Sex Between Men in Britain's Age of Reform - Hardcover

Upchurch, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520258533 ISBN 13: 9780520258532

Publisher: University of California Press, 2009

Synopsis

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About this title

Review:

"A powerful and persuasive account of male-male sexual relations in the age of reform."--Denis O'Donovan"Men & Masculinities" (06/27/2011)

"Fascinating and informative. . . . Upchurch has set a standard for depth and originality of research and creative social analysis."-- (11/17/2009)

"A very fine book. Upchurch's sophisticated work instructively points scholars in new chronological and methodological directions."-- (09/24/2012)

"This is a very important book. It may even be a historic book. . . . One reads this book with grateful amazement. . . . Breathtaking."-- (06/16/2009)

"A meticulous study. . . . Illuminating."-- (04/13/2011)

Synopsis:

This book examines changing perceptions of sex between men in early Victorian Britain, a significant yet surprisingly little explored period in the history of Western sexuality. Looking at the dramatic transformations of the era - changes in the family and in the law, the emergence of the world's first police force, the growth of a national media, and more - Charles Upchurch asks how perceptions of same-sex desire changed between men, in families, and in the larger society. To illuminate these questions, he mines a rich trove of previously unexamined sources, including hundreds of articles pertaining to sex between men that appeared in mainstream newspapers. The first book to relate this topic to broader economic, social, and political changes in the early nineteenth century, "Before Wilde" sheds new light on the central question of how and when sex acts became identities.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0520258533
• ISBN 13: 9780520258532
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272