Publisher's Synopsis
Queer Pulp exposes the history of queer sexuality in mid-twentieth century American paperbacks. Historian Susan Stryker charts the rise of the queer paperback within the context of American pop- and publishing culture, with a peppy and accessible overview of the cultural, political, economic, and sociological factors involved. A diverse lot, queer pulp is most easily broken down in the categories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender themes. Within those subgenres, the books and authors themselves are accompanied by countless fascinating stories (for example, a former Georgetown University philosophy professor named H. Lynn Womack founded the notorious Guild Press, a major gay porn publishing house that was a prominent First Amendment crusader in the sixties). Featuring the work of such highbrow authors as W. Somerset Maugham and Truman Capote, to the no-brow hacks who worked under several names at once, Queer Pulp is the entertaining and informative introduction to these lost, lurid literary genres.
