Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest - Paperback

by Peter Boag (Author)

At the turn of the twentieth century, two distinct, yet at times overlapping, male same-sex sexual subcultures had emerged in the Pacific Northwest: one among the men and boys who toiled in the region's logging, fishing, mining, farming, and railroad-building industries; the other among the young urban white-collar workers of the emerging corporate order. Boag draws on police logs, court records, and newspaper accounts to create a vivid picture of the lives of these men and youths--their sexual practices, cultural networks, cross-class relations, variations in rural and urban experiences, and ethnic and racial influences.

Front Jacket

The product of rigorous research and thinking, Same-Sex Affairs assesses the shifting meanings of homosexuality for different classes of gay men, and for mainstream society, between 1890 and 1930. While establishing that the Northwest provided a distinctive context for constructions of male, same-sex sex, Boag also uses evidence from the region to refine understandings of the practice and significance of homosexuality at the national level. Same-Sex Affairs makes important contributions to the history of both the western United States and modern American sexuality.--John Findlay, author of Magic Lands

This is an important work, taking Western history in entirely new directions. Peter Boag demonstrates his judiciousness, his care, with an impressive set of largely overlooked and underutilized sources. And those sources reveal remarkable tales. There is verve, an excitement, in both the ordinariness of everyday life and the extraordinary circumstances of scandal. Historians of sexuality in particular will ponder this book's insights for some time to come. It is a provocative study, rich in documentation, and extremely significant in terms of analytic impact.--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History

Back Jacket

The product of rigorous research and thinking, Same-Sex Affairs assesses the shifting meanings of homosexuality for different classes of gay men, and for mainstream" society, between 1890 and 1930. While establishing that the Northwest provided a distinctive context for constructions of male, same-sex sex, Boag also uses evidence from the region to refine understandings of the practice and significance of homosexuality at the national level. Same-Sex Affairs makes important contributions to the history of both the western United States and modern American sexuality."--John Findlay, author of Magic Lands

"This is an important work, taking Western history in entirely new directions. Peter Boag demonstrates his judiciousness, his care, with an impressive set of largely overlooked and underutilized sources. And those sources reveal remarkable tales. There is verve, an excitement, in both the ordinariness of everyday life and the extraordinary circumstances of scandal. Historians of sexuality in particular will ponder this book's insights for some time to come. It is a provocative study, rich in documentation, and extremely significant in terms of analytic impact."--John Howard, author of Men Like That: A Southern Queer History

Author Biography

Peter Boag is Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Environment and Experience: Settlement Culture in Nineteenth-Century Oregon (California, 1992).