The Gay Metropolis - by Charles Kaiser (Paperback)

About the Book

"The landmark portrait of 20th-century New York viewed through the eyes of gay New Yorkers . . . Mr. Kaiser guides us through the amazing changes in gay life at the dawn of the new millennium."--New York Observer

Book Synopsis

Now featuring an updated introduction commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall

"The landmark portrait of 20th-century New York viewed through the eyes of gay New Yorkers." -New York Observer

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year and winner of a Lambda Literary Award, The Gay Metropolis is a landmark saga of struggle and triumph that was instantly recognized as the most authoritative and substantial work of its kind. Now, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprisings, Charles Kaiser has brought this history into the twenty-first century. In this new edition he covers the three court cases that lead to the revolutionary legalization of gay marriage in America, as well as shifts toward inclusion in mainstream pop culture, with the Oscar-winning films Brokeback Mountain and Call Me By Your Name.

Filled with astounding anecdotes and searing tales of heartbreak and transformation, it provides a decade-by-decade account of the rise and acceptance of gay life and identity since the 1940s. From the making of West Side Story to the catastrophic era of AIDS, and with a dazzling cast of characters--including Leonard Bernstein, Montgomery Clift, Alfred Hitchcock, John F. Kennedy, and RuPaul--this is a vital telling of American history.

Review Quotes

"A dramatic, often affecting account of the emergence of gay people from fear and self-hatred into self-confident participation in society."--Washington Post

"Mesmerizing . . . A compulsively readable and persistently fascinating account of such universal human conditions as fear, loathing, outrage, prejudice, heartbreak and, ultimately, hope."--Sunday Times (London)

"Fascinating and fabulous."--Vanity Fair

"A sweeping saga written with wit, insight, and poignancy."--San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

Charles Kaiser, the author of 1968 in America and The Cost of Courage, has been a reporter for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and a press critic at Newsweek. He has also written for Vanity Fair, New York, Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. He has taught journalism at Columbia and Princeton, and lives in New York City.