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1885 to make homosexual behaviour illegal - a law that led to the prosecution of tens of thousands of men until it was repealed eight decades later, but not before the prosecution of Oscar Wilde led to a moment of fear, unprecedented in modern British history, for those whose lives made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1885 to make homosexual behaviour illegal - a law that led to the prosecution of tens of thousands of men until it was repealed eight decades later, but not before the prosecution of Oscar Wilde led to a moment of fear, unprecedented in modern British history, for those whose lives made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 Emerald Mist by David Boyle
Cover of the book Peace and Freedom are My Names by David Boyle
Cover of the book An Irish Canalboat Adventure. by David Boyle
Cover of the book History of the Groove, Healing Drummer by David Boyle
Cover of the book Welcome Home by David Boyle
Cover of the book It's About Sex - Volume One by David Boyle
Cover of the book Ten-Cent Beer Night and the 1974 Baseball Season by David Boyle
Cover of the book Birds Adventure 1 by David Boyle
Cover of the book The Divorce by David Boyle
Cover of the book The Truth About Pepper Spray by David Boyle
Cover of the book Roxanne and Lola the Lemon Pixie by David Boyle
Cover of the book The Quarry by David Boyle
Cover of the book Poetry for Lovers and Dreamers by David Boyle
Cover of the book Tzimmes (and don't forget the cheesecake and the strudel) by David Boyle
Cover of the book Lost Souls Of Paradise 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