Gay Artists in Modern American Culture

“A first-rate contribution to American cultural history.” — Journal of American History

“As an in-depth look at the critical reaction to major American artists, Sherry’s study compares favorably to other academic studies. . . . Recommended.” — CHOICE

“An important book, deserving of a central place not only in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies, but also in academia and at the American table.” — Multicultural Review

“An extended and often brilliant discussion of gay musicians, dramatists, dancers, and writers from the late 1940s through the 1960s.” — Rain Taxi

“[Sherry] provides fresh thinking about the aesthetic portions of the homosexual world.” — New York Times Book Review

“[An] insightful new book. . . . In five thoroughly researched chapters, [Sherry] shows how homophobia . . . is not a monolithic repressive force, but a complex web of power relations that have shifted from Truman’s time to Nixon’s to our own. Sherry is one of the few scholars to read anti-gay rants as a strain of American conspiracy thinking. . . . This book challenges the idea that history is made by individuals and tells a history of power relations and movements.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“The accomplishments of Gay Artists are many. . . . Highly recommended for scholars — and also for non-academics — who have interests in twentieth-century American culture, in queer studies, and in studies of modern U.S. empire. . . . It should become a vital reference for those studying how these three interconnected subjects collided. . . . Gay Artists recently won the 2008 LGBT Award for Nonfiction from the Lambda Literary Foundation. It deserves to pick up several more.” — American Studies

“This book examines a new series of discourse about gay men who were prominent in the field of the arts and letters and is a valuable contribution to cultural history in the United States.” — Journal of the History of Sexuality

“Gay Artists in Modern American Culture uncovers a forgotten Cold War gay renaissance.” — American Literary History

“Masterfully investigates how gay artists — mostly male — came to define modern American culture while navigating the restrictions imposed by Cold War homophobia.” — Journal of Cold War Studies