Love Letters Between a Certain Late Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson

Book excerpt: Here are 20 love letters and the appended commentaries--provided by some of today's most respected experts in the field of social science and early 18th-century life and letters--chronicling the course of a fictional homosexual relationship between an older lord and his young lover. Fascinating reading for anyone interested in gender, sexuality, deviance, and homosexuality, Love Letters Between a Certain Nobleman and the Famous Mr. Wilson reveals specific practices among gay men, including places of assignation; "camping"; various forms of sex talk; an internal, coded language among gay men; and the intrigue undertaken to avoid discovery. There is also a rare glimpse into the organization and dynamics of the sexual subculture as it existed then. What's more, readers will better understand the larger societal undercurrents such as class relations and urbanization, relationships between men and women, homophobia, sexism, and the development of a gay identity.