On Queer Street: A Social History of British Homosexuality, 1895-1995

David, Hugh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 000638451X ISBN 13: 9780006384519

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1997

The hidden history of the gay community this century.

Long before Oscar Wilde ‘corrupted and debauched the morals’ of his young lovers, homosexual men were finding their own place in society. Later, as homoerotic ‘ladlove’ was celebrated in fiction and poetry by A E Housman, E M Forster and others, gay writers and artists hid their sexuality behind a glittering and thinly veiled social image. Yet the unspoken tolerance of homosexuality that continued and strengthened during the World Wars turned to persecution in post-war Britain, and gay men once again found themselves living with a dangerous secret that would take decades to find acceptance.

Hugh David traces the homosexual experience from its struggle with Victorian morality through the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1967 to the end-of-the-century ravages of HIV and AIDS. Frank and often funny, he weaves accounts from ‘ordinary’ gay men with those of the famously queer to produce a vivid social history of homosexual life.

Review:

‘A truly wonderful book’
Quentin Crisp

‘David’s quest has been to delve into what many people really thought – and, more importantly, what they actually did. He is a generous host to many voices, his aim being to let his guests tell their own story.’
Matthew Parris, Sunday Times

‘A fluid, occasionally acid account of the modern gay psyche’
Roger Clarke, Independent Long Weekend

‘Fascinating’
Charles Osborne, Sunday Telegraph

From the Back Cover:

Long before Oscar Wilde 'corrupted and debauched the morals' of his young lovers, homosexual men were finding their own place in society. Later, as homoerotic 'ladlove' was celebrated in fiction and poetry by A E Housman, E M Forster and others, gay writers and artists hid their sexuality behind a glittering and thinly veiled social image. Yet the unspoken tolerance of homosexuality that continued and strengthened during the World Wars turned to persecution in post-war Britain, and gay men once again found themselves living with a dangerous secret that would take decades to find acceptance.

Hugh David traces the homosexual experience from its struggle with Victorian morality through the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1967 to the end-of-the-century ravages of HIV and AIDS. Frank and often funny, he weaves accounts from 'ordinary' gay men with those of the famously queer to produce a vivid social history of homosexual life.

'David's quest has been to delve into what people really thought – and, more importantly, what they actually did. He is a generous host to many voices, his aim being to let his guests tell their own story'
MATTHEW PARRIS, 'Sunday Times'

"A fluid, occasionally acid account of the modern gay psyche"
ROGER CLARKE, 'Independent Long Weekend'

"Fascinating"
CHARLES OSBORNE, 'Sunday Telegraph'