Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day

In his book "Queer London: A History of Gay Men and Women in the City," Peter Ackroyd explores the history of London's gay population, from the Roman era to the present day, highlighting the city's alternating periods of permissiveness and censorship.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 24 May 2018
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

‘Droll, provocative and crammed to busting with startling facts’ Simon Callow, Guardian

In this powerful Sunday Times bestseller Peter Ackroyd looks at London in a whole new way – through the history and experiences of its gay population.

In Roman Londinium the city was dotted with lupanaria (‘wolf dens’ or public pleasure houses), fornices (brothels) and thermiae (hot baths). Then came the Emperor Constantine, with his bishops, monks and missionaries. And so began an endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure.

Ackroyd takes us right into the hidden history of the city; from the notorious Normans to the frenzy of executions for sodomy in the early nineteenth century. He journeys through the coffee bars of sixties Soho to Gay Liberation, disco music and the horror of AIDS.

Today, we live in an era of openness and tolerance and Queer London has become part of the new norm. Ackroyd tells us the hidden story of how it got there, celebrating its diversity, thrills and energy on the one hand; but reminding us of its very real terrors, dangers and risks on the other.

Weight: 260g
Dimension: 138 x 197 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780099592945