Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past

By exploring homosexuality in a wide range of times and places, the 30 essays in this ground-breaking anthology suggest that definitions of ``normal'' sexuality differ widely from one culture to the next. Contributions deal with women who passed as men in 19th-century America, Russia's gay literature and subculture since the 1917 revolution, ``mine marriages'' in South Africa's gold mines, and San Francisco's gay community. There are essays on lesbian sexuality in medieval Europe, among American Indian tribes, in avant-garde Paris. The contributors explore the complex interplay between same-sex relationships, definitions of self and societal attitudes toward homosexuality. Duberman is the author of Paul Robeson , Vicinus teaches at the University of Michigan and Chauncey is a post-doctoral fellow at Rutgers. (Nov.)