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65
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
69/100Critics
60/100Scholars
Author:
James Kirchick
Publisher:
Henry Holt and Co.
Date:
May 31, 2022
Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Rooseveltâs brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of âthe greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States,â James Kirchick illuminates how homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration through the end of the twentieth century.
What The Reviewers Say
... a sprawling and enthralling history of how the gay subculture in Washington, D.C., long in shadow, emerged into the klieg lights. But it’s also a whodunit to rival anything by Agatha Christie.
... engrossing, important.
Kirchick chronicles these and other panics over gay influence, sometimes with a knowing wink.
Kirchick tries to retrofit the trope to a very specific subset of the District’s famously diverse LGBTQ community, ultimately covering a bewildering amount of old ground without offering the reader much that can be called new.
