When Brooklyn Was Queer is an act of queer memory, one that excavates Brooklyn’s multiple histories of sexual transgression, famous queer figures, and queer world-making. From Boston marriages to W. H. Auden’s legendary queer commune, January house, from cruising on the docks to queer adventuring in Coney Island, Brooklyn provides Hugh Ryan with multiple queer histories that move beyond Stonewall to diverse coalitions, affinities, identities and practices. “Queer history,” Ryan tells us, “has always been piecemeal and canonless—a mutual endeavor of shared love.” When Brooklyn Was Queer invites readers to embrace their queer pasts and write new queer futures.
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History, by Hugh Ryan. Published by St. Martin’s Press. The editor is Sylvan Creelmore and the agent is Robert Guinsler. When Brooklyn Was Queer is a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction; the winner will be announced on April 30.