LGBT History Books

This page is a curated reading list of key books in LGBT history, intended as a research resource for editors of the LGBT History Project. Purchasing through the Amazon links below (which use the project's affiliate code) generates a small commission that helps support the archive.

Buying any of these books through the links below supports the LGBT History Project at no extra cost to you.

British social history

These are some of the foundational academic and popular works on LGBT British history. They are regularly cited in wiki articles and are recommended reading for new editors.

• Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain from the Nineteenth Century to the Present by Jeffrey Weeks (ISBN 9780704331754) – The standard academic history of the British gay rights movement, first published in 1977 and revised twice since. Essential reading for understanding the political and social history of homosexuality in Britain.

• Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England, 1700–1830 by Rictor Norton (ISBN 9780854491889) – A pioneering study of the underground gay culture of 18th-century London, centred on Mother Clap's famous establishment. Draws on court records and contemporary documents.

• The Myth of the Modern Homosexual: Queer History and the Search for Cultural Unity by Rictor Norton (ISBN 9780304338924) – Norton challenges the idea that gay identity is a modern invention, arguing for a continuous homosexual culture across history.

• Queer Domesticities: Homosexuality and Home Life in Twentieth-Century London by Matt Cook (ISBN 9780230221390) – A scholarly study of how gay men and lesbians created domestic lives in 20th-century London.

• Queer beyond London: LGBTQ Stories from Four English Cities by Matt Cook and Alison Oram (ISBN 9781526145864) – Extends the story beyond the capital to look at LGBTQ lives in Brighton, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton.

• No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souhami (ISBN 9781786694874) – Winner of the 2021 Polari Prize, this study examines the lives and influence of lesbian patrons, publishers and artists who shaped literary modernism: Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney and Radclyffe Hall.

• Gateway to Heaven: Fifty Years of Lesbian and Gay Oral History by Clare Summerskill (ISBN 9780956017376) – Based on interviews with older gay men and lesbians, and a theatre production that toured the UK. An invaluable primary source for editors writing about the mid-20th century.

Victorian and early history

• The Sins of Jack Saul: The True Story of Dublin Jack and the Cleveland Street Scandal by Glenn Chandler (ISBN 9781786237675) – A thorough account of the life of John Saul (Jack Saul), the Victorian rent boy who was a central witness in the Cleveland Street scandal of 1889. Based on extensive primary research.

• Father and Son by Edmund Gosse (ISBN 9780199539116) – A classic autobiographical account of growing up in a strict Plymouth Brethren household. While not explicitly a gay text, Gosse's correspondence with John Addington Symonds and his own suppressed desires give the book an important place in LGBT literary history.

Politics and activism

• The Glamour Boys: The Secret Story of the Rebels who Fought for Britain to Defeat Hitler by Chris Bryant (ISBN 9781526601711) – Recovers the stories of the group of gay and bisexual MPs – including Bob Boothby, Harold Nicolson and Ronald Cartland – who defied the appeasement of Nazi Germany. Bryant argues their outsider status gave them the courage to speak out.

• We Don't Want to March Straight: Masculinity, Queers and the Military by Peter Tatchell (ISBN 9780304333738) – Tatchell's critique of the campaign for gay military service, arguing the focus on conformity undermines queer liberation.

Biography and memoir

• Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain's First King by Gareth Russell (ISBN 9780008660857) – A recent popular biography of James I that addresses his relationships with male favourites including Robert Carr and George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

• The Naked Civil Servant by Quentin Crisp (ISBN 9780141180533) – Crisp's memoir of living openly and flamboyantly as a gay man in mid-20th century Britain, later adapted for television.

• Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins by Rupert Everett (ISBN 9780349120584) – The first memoir by the openly gay British actor, covering his career, friendships and views on the film industry.

• A Life and a Half: The Unexpected Making of a Politician by Chris Bryant (ISBN 9781526680914) – Bryant's candid memoir covering his childhood, his time in the Church of England, and coming out as a gay man in Parliament.

• Stranger Among Friends by David Mixner (ISBN 9780553375541) – The autobiography of the American gay rights activist and Clinton adviser. Includes detailed accounts of the campaign for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the early response to AIDS.

Fiction

The Polari Prize is the UK's leading award for LGBT writing. See the Polari Prize page for a full list of winners and shortlisted books with purchase links.