Long Live Queer Nightlife - by Amin Ghaziani (Hardcover)

About the Book

"It's closing time for an alarming number of gay bars in cities around the globe--but it's definitely not the last dance. In this ... journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, ... Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife. Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties--club nights--wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning queer nightlife in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways"--

Book Synopsis

It's closing time for an alarming number of gay bars in cities around the globe--but it's definitely not the last dance

In this exhilarating journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, acclaimed author Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife.

Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties--club nights--wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning queer nightlife in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways.

Drawing on Ghaziani's immersive encounters at underground parties in London and more than one hundred riveting interviews with everyone from bar owners to party producers, revelers to rabble-rousers, Long Live Queer Nightlife showcases a spectacular, if seldom-seen, vision of a queer world shimmering with self-empowerment, inventiveness, and joy.

Review Quotes

"After finishing [this] fabulous [book], you're gonna want to go party. And why not? The queer night that shines through. . . is intoxicating."---Eric Gonzaba, Journal of the History of Sexuality

"Long Live Queer Nightlife is a beautiful book, an ode to joy, an encyclopedia of collective effervescence, complete with extensive photos and charming vignettes."---James M. Jasper, Mobilization

"Grab a Red Bull because we are going clubbing! On second thought, no need for an external stimulant to party along with Amin Ghaziani as he takes us through the underground, profoundly queer nightlife scenes in London. . . . in his edgy, fun, smart, and ultimately sweet book, Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution. The joy, the exuberance, the release washes over us as we move across an always-changing landscape of performance spaces, warehouses, parking lots, basements, and nightclubs."---Stephen Valocchi, Contemporary Sociology

"Finalist for the PROSE Award in Cultural Anthropology and Sociology, Association of American Publishers"

"Diving into the secret parties and underground club nights, acclaimed author Amin Ghaziani brings readers along on a journey to discover a powerful queer world of self-celebration, imagination and joy."---Beatrice Fanucci, GCN

"Amin Ghaziani's Long Live Queer Nightlife is exemplary. Not only is this book a window into the resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community, it invokes JOY for anyone who is fortunate enough to dive in."---Jonathan Van Ness, New York Times bestselling author and star of Queer Eye

"Like the best pop-up parties, [Long Live Queer Nightlife] conveys the evanescent qualities of queer joy."-- "Choice"

"The book is a celebration of the resilience and reinvention of queer spaces, emphasising their vital role in fostering community, inclusivity, and radical joy."---Max Shirley, LSE Review of Books

"The book feels like a satellite image of London at night, with far-flung parties gleaming mostly on the edges, bright nodes in a darkened expanse. Ghaziani renders a complex picture of how going out as a queer person is changing; his approach to the topic, at once intimate and meticulous, ultimately enables his own perspective to shine through. Refreshingly, Long Live Queer Nightlife refuses anguish--Ghaziani's jubilation at the emergence of the new outweighs his sorrow at the molting of the old."---Daniel Felsenthal, The Nation

"

The work Ghaziani has done here truly does provide us with an opportunity to reorient our thoughts around what nightlife is, what it means for each of us individually, and what possibilities are waiting for us when we prioritize redefinition over mourning loss.

"---Stef Rubino, Autostraddle

"It's no secret that gay bars are important community hubs -- and unfortunately closing in droves across the country. On top of that, judgment and a yearning for a different kind of connection has scared a generation of queers away from walking into their local clubs. But that doesn't mean that the party is stopping, especially for those who know where to look. It's a world that author Amin Ghaziani dives into in his new book. . . . From the safety of my couch, I'm living through him vicariously!"---Carson Mlnarik, Queerty

"Simply put, this book is full of queer glee. It creates a refreshingly optimistic perspective on the ongoing demise of queer safe nightlife spaces, focusing on something better emerging that is more edgy, creative and inclusive."---Zack Ditch, The Conversation

"

The sociologist Amin Ghaziani wants to turn a funeral into a party. . . . [I]n Long Live Queer Nightlife, Ghaziani makes the case that, though the shuttering of gay bars is sad, it prompted a renaissance for club nights, alternative dance spaces championed by people of color and gender-nonconforming people. Unlike the stationary gay bar that caters to the white gay man, these ticketed events are nomadic and inclusive, often popping up in warehouses on the industrial outskirts of sleepless cities. Save your tears, because queer nightlife is alive and well. In fact, it's even better than ever, having evolved into a more progressive, sophisticated form. . . . Ghaziani shines as an academic.

"---John Paul Brammer, New York Times Book Review

"This intelligent insightful inquiry on the state of LGBTQ nightlife is eye-opening, distressing, but, perhaps most importantly, optimistic, and future-forward."---Jim Piechota, The Bay Area Reporter

"A rollicking, paradigm-shifting canter through the undergrounds of queer London."---Diarmuid Hester, University of Cambridge

"Ghaziani provides an immersive view of [club nights], profiling partygoers and event planners and participating in the club nights himself. It's an invigorating and upbeat view of queer life."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"[A] refreshingly hopeful perspective on the changing nature of queer urban nightlife."---Ilana Masad, them

"

An accessible, absorbing look into an evolving form of queer culture, written by a brilliant sociologist.

"-- "Library Journal, starred review"

"

Thoughtful and well researched, Ghaziani's book looks beyond the binaries and prejudices within LGBTQ+ communities to celebrate a more inclusive space of queerness that actively identifies and accepts difference in all its forms. A wonderfully lively and open-minded intellectual inquiry.

"-- "Kirkus"

About the Author

Amin Ghaziani is professor of sociology and Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities at the University of British Columbia. He is the award-winning author of The Dividends of Dissent, Sex Cultures, and There Goes the Gayborhood? (Princeton). His work has been featured widely in international media outlets, including the New Yorker, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, USA Today, and British Vogue.