Catherine Lord + Richard Meyer: Art and Queer Culture & Robert Beachy: Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity

Two excellent and thorough explorations of aspects of 20th century gay history and sexuality.

The book on Berlin is remarkably thorough and pays tribute magnificently to the pioneers of that time to whom we owe so much. Magnus Hirschfeld is rightly central and one even now marvels at what he achieved and what he understood. So many people today are standing n his shoulders - and he was remarkably ahead of his time in terms of how wide-ranging his studies and work ranged. All aspects of human sexuality were explored in his work. - even in these days that comes across.

Art and Queer culture is somewhat different. It is a survey of visual art and alternative sexuality from the late 19th Century to the present day. It’s the sort of book that one dips into, comes across both the known and the utterly unknown and, most importantly, makes one want to further explore the artist/theme/ideas. You will always find something new in it I find.

A conversation-starting coffee table book.