Gay Berlin
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  • Published: 2 November 2015
  • ISBN: 9780307473134
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $39.99

Gay Berlin

Birthplace of a Modern Identity

Formats & editions
Audiobook
13 May 2025
Audiobook
13 May 2025
Paperback
2 Nov 2015
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A fascinating exploration of how the uninhibited urban sexuality of pre-Weimar Berlin helped redefine our understanding of sexual orientation, and gave rise to a new type of gay identity.

Winner of Randy Shilts Award

In the half century before the Nazis rose to power, Berlin became the undisputed gay capital of the world. Activists and medical professionals made it a city of firsts—the first gay journal, the first homosexual rights organization, the first Institute for Sexual Science, the first sex reassignment surgeries—exploring and educating themselves and the rest of the world about new ways of understanding the human condition. In this fascinating examination of how the uninhibited urban culture of Berlin helped create our categories of sexual orientation and gender identity, Robert Beachy guides readers through the past events and developments that continue to shape and influence our thinking about sex and gender to this day.
  • Published: 2 November 2015
  • ISBN: 9780307473134
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $39.99
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About the author

Robert Beachy

Robert Beachy was trained as a German historian at the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1998. He is presently associate professor of history at the Underwood International College of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea.

Praise for Gay Berlin

  • "Excellent and richly documented.... The significance of Beachy's book goes beyond his findings on the German roots of the conclusion that homosexuality is a biologically fixed trait. Beachy's work must also be considered in the larger context of a shift in cultural studies." --V.R. Berghahn, The New York Times Book Review
  • "Thorough.... Full of juicy tidbits.... A very good, serious, detailed, scholarly work of history by an excellent researcher who has clearly done his homework--and then some." --San Francisco Chronicle
  • "Beachy's deeply researched, carefully structured book is foremost an impressive piece of scholarship." --Publishers Weekly (starred)
  • "An elucidating, somewhat startling study of how early German tolerance and liberalism encouraged homosexual expression.... A brave new work of compelling research." --Kirkus Reviews

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