This is a landmark publication featuring English translations of selections from the early gay German journal, Der Eigene. This collection, previously scattered and difficult to read in the original German, allows readers direct access to primary source material on the early gay movement. Neglected for years, these articles provide insight into the early gay movement, particularly in its relation to the various political currents in pre-World War II Germany. Simultaneously, the essays are relevant to current discussions and debates in contemporary gay, women’s, and youth movements. Masterly introductory and concluding essays add additional insight by placing the articles in their historical context, discussing their past and current significance, and drawing lessons for the future. Readers of all levels of sophistication will find this anthology a fascinating look at homosexuality in early years.

Material and Visual Cultures Beyond Male Bonding, 1870-1914 presents the first cross-disciplinary analysis of the visual and material representations and spaces of male same-sex culture in turn-of-the-century Britain which positions intimacy as its central object. Through both historical and theoretical lenses, this groundbreaking study considers photographs, interior design, decorative art, architecture and illustrations from the popular press to reveal the interwoven narratives of intimacy, aesthetics and identity. The author sustains close readings to expose the challenges the representations of 'men together' posed not only for the men of the time, but also for the contemporary viewer and scholar.

The goal of this book is to overcome some of the widespread misunderstandings about the meaning of a Darwinian approach to the human mind generally, and literature specifically.

Sarah Cole examines the rich literary and cultural history of masculine intimacy in the twentieth century. Cole approaches this complex and neglected topic from many perspectives - as a reflection of the exceptional social power wielded by the institutions that housed and structured male bonds; as a matter of closeted and thwarted homoerotics; as part of the story of the First World War. Cole shows that the terrain of masculine fellowship provides an important context for understanding key literary features of the modernist period. She foregrounds such crucial themes as the over-determined relations between imperial wanderers in Conrad's tales, the broken friendships that permeate Forster's fictions, Lawrence's desperate urge to make culture out of blood brotherhood and the intense bereavement of the war poet. Cole argues that these dramas of compelling and often tortured male friendship have helped to define a particular spirit and voice within the literary canon.

Using insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and the history of sexuality, Holmberg explores the ambiguity that drives male bonding. Personal interviews with Mamet and with the actors who have interpreted his major roles shed light on how and why men bond with each other and complement close analysis of Mamet's texts.

Men are naturally omnisexual and from the most ancient times they have bonded, intellectually and physically under the Greeks, a trend that continued through the Romans until the advent of Christianity and its denaturing effect over the minds of men, as symbolized by Savonarola and his bonfire of the vanities, where even many of the works of the sublime Botticelli went up in smoke, cast into the flames by Botticelli himself. But male bonding, with or without sexual release, is staging a comeback, as witnessed by Australian mateship and French matelotage, both thoroughly covered herein. This book is devoted to the men who lived intense male friendships, male bonding limited to the sheer pleasure of sharing and complicity, the ease of instant understanding due to the similarity in upbringing and body. It is comradeship that has as its foundation the happiness of being with another, in which sexuality may play no role whatsoever. It's the buddy in war who will die for his companion-in-arms, in the pure tradition of the Theban Sacred Band and the Spartan 300 who saved the world from barbarism at the Thermopylae. This book will cover the lives of History's greatest friendships, their sexuality an ingredient as it is in life itself, whether it be heterosexual, homosexual or omnisexual. Often one of the men was homosexual, as in the case of Herman Melville whose heterosexual companion was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Often both men were heterosexual, as was Jack Renton, stranded for nine years on the island of Malaita with his cannibal best friend Kwaisulia. Houdini and Conan Doyle were inseparable heterosexual brothers until spirits from the beyond split them apart. Abraham Lincoln had several close companions, with whom he shared beds for an overall seven years. The Australian Kelly Gang was built on male loyalty, and it was Steve Hart who put a bullet in the head of Dan Kelly, his inseparable mate, before shooting himself.

Gender roles are nowhere more prominent than in war. Yet contentious debates, and the scattering of scholarship across academic disciplines, have obscured understanding of how gender affects war and vice versa. In this authoritative and lively review of our state of knowledge, Joshua Goldstein assesses the possible explanations for the near-total exclusion of women from combat forces, through history and across cultures. Topics covered include the history of women who did fight and fought well, the complex role of testosterone in men's social behaviours, and the construction of masculinity and femininity in the shadow of war. Goldstein concludes that killing in war does not come naturally for either gender, and that gender norms often shape men, women, and children to the needs of the war system. lllustrated with photographs, drawings, and graphics, and drawing from scholarship spanning six academic disciplines, this book provides a unique study of a fascinating issue.

The first encyclopedia to analyze, summarize, and explain the complexities of men's lives and the idea of modern manhood. The process of "making masculinity visible" has been going on for over two decades and has produced a prodigious and interesting body of work. But until now the subject has had no authoritative reference source. Men & Masculinities, a pioneering two-volume work, corrects the oversight by summarizing the latest historical, biological, cross-cultural, psychological, and sociological research on the subject. It also looks at literature, art, and music from a gender perspective. The contributors are experts in their specialties and their work is directed, organized, and coedited by one of the premier scholars in the field, Michael Kimmel. The coverage brings together for the first time considerable knowledge of men and manhood, focusing on such areas as sexual violence, intimacy, pornography, homophobia, sports, profeminist men, rituals, sexism, and many other important subjects. Clearly, this unique reference is a valuable guide to students, teachers, writers, policymakers, journalists, and others who seek a fuller understanding of gender in the United States.

This is a landmark publication featuring English translations of selections from the early gay German journal, Der Eigene. This collection, previously scattered and difficult to read in the original German, allows readers direct access to primary source material on the early gay movement. Neglected for years, these articles provide insight into the early gay movement, particularly in its relation to the various political currents in pre-World War II Germany. Simultaneously, the essays are relevant to current discussions and debates in contemporary gay, women’s, and youth movements. Masterly introductory and concluding essays add additional insight by placing the articles in their historical context, discussing their past and current significance, and drawing lessons for the future. Readers of all levels of sophistication will find this anthology a fascinating look at homosexuality in early years.