Gay Warriors - by B R Burg (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Ancient Greece and Rome, in Crusader campaigns and pirate adventures, same-sex romances were a common and condoned part of military culture. From the Peloponnesian War to the Gulf War, from Achelleus to Lawrence of Arabia gays and lesbians have played a crucial but often hidden role in military campaigns. But recent debates over the legality of gay service in the military and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy have obscured this rich aspect of military history. Richard Burg has recovered important documents and assembled an anthology on these often invisible gay and lesbian warriors.
Burg shows us that the Amazons of legend weren't just fictional. We learn about the richness and variety of their culture in documents from Plato, Seneca and Suetonius. From courts-martial proceedings we discover women warriors in seventeenth century England who passed as men in order to serve, and army officers whose underground culture fostered long-term romantic friendships.
There are also sections on the American Civil War, World War I and II, the contemporary U.S. military as well as sailors and pirates. This anthology will forever change the way we think about "gays in the military."

Review Quotes

"B.R. Burg in Gay Warriors, through a vivid series of pictures from the ancient to the contemporary world, presents clear evidence that homosexual desire between fighting men in most times and places has contributed to the effectiveness of armies. The modern homosexual/heterosexual distinction has changed this over the last three centuries, but there is every reason to expect that the rise of the gay and lesbian movement may serve to restore an older tradition. The book's original sources stimulate the imagination, and this is especially true of the navy and army courts-martial since 1700. The book is a major contribution to a heated contemporary controversy."--Randolph Trumbach, Professor of History, Baruch College and the Grad Center, City University of New York

"Important...a truly fascinating reading on this controversial subject."-- "Library Journal"

"The reprinted documents are what makes Burg's book valuable, and they allow readers to judge for themselves whether gays and lesbians deserve to be fully integrated into the modern military."-- "The Journal of Sex Research"