{"product_id":"indecent-advances-a-hidden-history-of-true-crime-and-prejudice-before-stonewall-paperback","title":"Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJames Polchin\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdgar Award finalist, Best Fact Crime\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Masters\u003c\/i\u003e (PBS), \"1 of 5 Essential Culture Reads\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eCrimeReads\u003c\/i\u003e' \u003cb\u003e\"\u003c\/b\u003eBest True Crime Books of the Year\u003cb\u003e\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A fast-paced, meticulously researched, thoroughly engaging (and often infuriating) look-see into the systematic criminalization of gay men and widespread condemnation of homosexuality post-World War I.\"\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e--Alexis Burling, \u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eStories of murder have never been just about killers and victims. Instead, crime stories take the shape of their times and reflect cultural notions and prejudices. In this Edgar Award-finalist for Best Fact Crime, James Polchin recovers and recounts queer stories from the crime pages―often lurid and euphemistic―that reveal the hidden history of violence against gay men. But what was left unsaid in these crime pages provides insight into the figure of the queer man as both criminal and victim, offering readers tales of vice and violence that aligned gender and sexual deviance with tragic, gruesome endings. Victims were often reported as having made \"indecent advances,\" forcing the accused's hands in self-defense and reducing murder charges to manslaughter. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs noted by Caleb Cain in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e review of \u003ci\u003eIndecent Advances\u003c\/i\u003e, \"it's impossible to understand gay life in twentieth-century America without reckoning with the dark stories. Gay men were unable to shake free of them until they figured out how to tell the stories themselves, in a new way.\" \u003ci\u003eIndecent Advances\u003c\/i\u003e is the first book to fully investigate these stories of how queer men navigated a society that criminalized them and displayed little compassion for the violence they endured. Polchin shows, with masterful insight, how this discrimination was ultimately transformed by activists to help shape the burgeoning gay rights movement in the years leading up to Stonewall.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Polchin\u003c\/b\u003e, PhD, has taught at the Princeton Writing Program, the Parsons School of Design, the New School for Public Engagement, and the Creative Nonfiction Foundation. A clinical professor at New York University, he lives in New York City with his husband, the photographer Greg Salvatori. \u003ci\u003eIndecent Advances\u003c\/i\u003e is his first book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 256\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 8.1 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 26, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51760060367136,"sku":"9781640093874","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/4393063af4eddf06d0c4b54ee5f74beb.webp?v=1780170387","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/indecent-advances-a-hidden-history-of-true-crime-and-prejudice-before-stonewall-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}