Scandal

How Homosexuality Became a Crime

Nonfiction, History
Cover of the book Scandal by David Boyle, BookBaby
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Boyle ISBN: 9781682228951
Publisher: BookBaby Publication: December 14, 2015
Imprint: BookBaby Language: English
Author: David Boyle
ISBN: 9781682228951
Publisher: BookBaby
Publication: December 14, 2015
Imprint: BookBaby
Language: English
A journey back in time to find out why legislation was passed so unexpectedly in the UK in 1885 to make homosexual behaviour illegal - a law that led to the prosecution of tens of thousands of men until it was repealed eight decades later, but not before the prosecution of Oscar Wilde led to a moment of fear, unprecedented in modern British history, for those whose lives made them vulnerable. This is not just an important work in an emerging gay history, it is also a fascinating glimpse of a society remarkably like our own, coming to terms with massive social and technological change in the 1880s and 1890s. It explains some of the background to this massive social shift - a clash between purity campaigners and those, like Wilde, who believed he could live a new kind of life. It also finds the origins of the new law in the ferment of politics in Dublin, and the first fully-fledged sex scandal that erupted in the summer of 1884. Scandal is also a voyage of discovery for the author into the secret world of his own great-great-grandfather, who fled Dublin at the height of the scandal - only to find himself forced to escape a second time, this time from London, ten years later. It was the revelation of this second escape, and just how widespread it was, that led to the research into this book.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
A journey back in time to find out why legislation was passed so unexpectedly in the UK in 1885 to make homosexual behaviour illegal - a law that led to the prosecution of tens of thousands of men until it was repealed eight decades later, but not before the prosecution of Oscar Wilde led to a moment of fear, unprecedented in modern British history, for those whose lives made them vulnerable. This is not just an important work in an emerging gay history, it is also a fascinating glimpse of a society remarkably like our own, coming to terms with massive social and technological change in the 1880s and 1890s. It explains some of the background to this massive social shift - a clash between purity campaigners and those, like Wilde, who believed he could live a new kind of life. It also finds the origins of the new law in the ferment of politics in Dublin, and the first fully-fledged sex scandal that erupted in the summer of 1884. Scandal is also a voyage of discovery for the author into the secret world of his own great-great-grandfather, who fled Dublin at the height of the scandal - only to find himself forced to escape a second time, this time from London, ten years later. It was the revelation of this second escape, and just how widespread it was, that led to the research into this book.

More books from BookBaby

Cover of the book The Adventures of Barnaby Bookworm II by David Boyle
Cover of the book The Cinderella Syndrome by David Boyle
Cover of the book Behind the Smile During the Glamour Years of Aviation by David Boyle
Cover of the book Thirty Stories Of Hope by David Boyle
Cover of the book Life With Siri - Volume Two by David Boyle
Cover of the book The Feasts of Memory by David Boyle
Cover of the book QAR for the Early Primary Grades by David Boyle
Cover of the book Growing Simple by David Boyle
Cover of the book All in One of my Publications by David Boyle
Cover of the book Off Limits by David Boyle
Cover of the book Murphy's Law and the Outdoorsman by David Boyle
Cover of the book YES by David Boyle
Cover of the book Connect The Dots by David Boyle
Cover of the book Collecting Chinese Mud Men by David Boyle
Cover of the book Hollywood Nights by David Boyle
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy