{"product_id":"gay-bar-book-jeremy-atherton-lin-9780316458733","title":"Gay Bar","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eNational Book Critics Circle Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY: The New York Times * NPR * Vogue * Gay Times * Artforum *\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eGay Bar\u003c\/i\u003e is an absolute tour de force.\" -Maggie Nelson\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \"Atherton Lin has a five-octave, Mariah Carey-esque range for discussing gay sex.\" -\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eAs gay bars continue to close at an alarming rate, a writer looks back to find out what's being lost in this indispensable, intimate, and stylish celebration of queer history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Strobing lights and dark rooms; throbbing house and drag queens on counters; first kisses, last call: the gay bar has long been a place of solidarity and sexual expression--whatever your scene, whoever you're seeking. But in urban centers around the world, they are closing, a cultural demolition that has Jeremy Atherton Lin wondering: What \u003ci\u003ewas\u003c\/i\u003e the gay bar? How have they shaped him? And could this spell the end of gay identity as we know it?\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eGay Bar,\u003c\/i\u003e the author embarks upon a transatlantic tour of the hangouts that marked his life, with each club, pub, and dive revealing itself to be a palimpsest of queer history. In prose as exuberant as a hit of poppers and dazzling as a disco ball, he time-travels from Hollywood nights in the 1970s to a warren of cruising tunnels built beneath London in the 1770s; from chichi bars in the aftermath of AIDS to today's fluid queer spaces; through glory holes, into Crisco-slicked dungeons and down San Francisco alleys. He charts police raids and riots, posing and passing out--and a chance encounter one restless night that would change his life forever. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The journey that emerges is a stylish and nuanced inquiry into the connection between place and identity--a tale of liberation, but one that invites us to go beyond the simplified Stonewall mythology and enter lesser-known battlefields in the struggle to carve out a territory. Elegiac, randy, and sparkling with wry wit, \u003ci\u003eGay Bar\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a serious critical inquiry, a love story and an epic night out to remember.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49692382429457,"sku":"CIN0316458732G","price":8.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49757648814353,"sku":"CIN0316458732VG","price":19.3,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0316458732.jpg?v=1762340451","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/gay-bar-book-jeremy-atherton-lin-9780316458733","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}