{"product_id":"the-bars-are-ours-9781478024958","title":"The Bars Are Ours","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGay bars have operated as the most visible institutions of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States for the better part of a century, from before gay liberation until after their assumed obsolescence. In The Bars Are Ours Lucas Hilderbrand offers a panoramic history of gay bars, showing how they served as the medium for queer communities, politics, and cultures. Hilderbrand cruises from leather in Chicago and drag in Kansas City to activism against gentrification in Boston and racial discrimination in Atlanta; from New York City's bathhouses, sex clubs, and discos and Houston's legendary bar Mary's to the alternative scenes that reimagined queer nightlife in San Francisco and Latinx venues in Los Angeles. The Bars Are Ours explores these local sites (with additional stops in Denver, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Orlando as well as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Texas) to demonstrate the intoxicating---even world-making---roles that bars have played in queer public life across the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] sprawling, playful and rigorous account of the clubs and bars that served as petri dishes for American gay identity. . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Bars Are Ours\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates a rocky path to this great gay present.\" -- Hari Nef * New York Times Book Review *\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Bars Are Ours\u003c\/i\u003e is a joy to read. Lucas Hilderbrand is able to insert himself into his narrative in ways that make it come alive and, at the same time, steps back and analyzes. The stories are so compelling! Some made me laugh, some left me teary-eyed, and some offered eye-opening insights into a history that is shamefully undertold and underappreciated.” -- John D’Emilio, author of * Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood: Coming of Age in the Sixties *\u003cbr\u003e“Lucas Hilderbrand’s \u003ci\u003eThe Bars Are Ours\u003c\/i\u003e is a true tour de force. It is a comprehensive historical study of gay bars in the United States that is at once exhaustively researched and beautifully precise. Hilderbrand demonstrates a true respect for this history and tells it in a vital new way. Clearly and elegantly written, this is a nuanced, conceptual, and moving work.” -- Christina B. Hanhardt, author of * Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence *\u003cbr\u003e\"In his historical opus, Hilderbrand makes a comprehensive study of the history of gay bars in America from 1960 to the present day.\" -- Gary Day * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003e\"Hildebrand’s writing is transportive, which bolsters his impressive research. . . . A powerful celebration and examination of LGBTQIA+ nightlife. This book will serve as a significant record of evolving cultural touchstones and queer communities across the country.\" (Starred Review, A Best Book of 2023) -- Kate Bellody * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\"A fascinating archival deep dive. . . . Chock-full of excerpts from local gay press rags, recent oral histories, and a treasure trove of old fliers and ads that are as sexy as they are clever and funny, the book shows how the bars reflected the queer communities they attracted—in their irreverence, activism, and spirit of warmth and safety, as well as (sometimes) their overt or implicit discrimination and bias against patrons who did not fit a certain cisgender, gay white male ideal.\" -- Tim Murphy * The Body *\u003cbr\u003e\"I have a soft spot for gay bars, which are dwindling fast for some good reasons and also for some difficult ones, and Lucas Hilderbrand’s book \u003ci\u003eThe Bars Are Ours\u003c\/i\u003e tickled the sweet spot in my nostalgia, while also being pretty clear about the ways that gay bars have historically been complicated—racist, gender-policing and often unwelcoming to people who are considered too old, insufficiently fancy or not commercially attractive. Hilderbrand, a professor of media studies, is my favourite kind of smartypants—he knows an absolute ton and still manages to write interesting, vibrant prose with some of the sparkle still on it, not weighted down with jargon and internal politicking of the discipline.\" -- S. Bear Bergman * Xtra! *\u003cbr\u003e\"A stunning new work of research. . . . One thing that stands out about the book is how howlingly funny some of the passages are, and this makes what could otherwise be a dry academic text both enchanting and engaging. . . . This is ultimately an uplifting and hopeful book. . . . The book leaves the reader feeling that the era of gay bars is not over and they will evolve to meet the needs of our diverse communities in the future.\" -- Michael Flanagan * Bay Area Reporter *\u003cbr\u003e\"A history by means of a series of in-depth case studies—a bar crawl, if you will, from the Gold Coast leather bar in Chicago to the drag queens of the Jewel Box in Kansas City to the Latinx cowboys of Club Tempo in Los Angeles. . . . It’s also a crawl into the different aspect of gay culture. We get lengthy histories of leather culture, the role of gay bars in gentrification, and of the racism that often led to them becoming segregated spaces.\" -- Kevin Brazil * The Baffler *\u003cbr\u003e\"An essential addition to the growing but still woefully incomplete published histories of gay bars. . . . The precious worth, though, of \u003ci\u003eThe Bars Are Ours\u003c\/i\u003e comes from Hilderbrand’s dedication to being a 'rigorous queen' in his research, digging up delicious tidbits and remembrances from gay bars’ elusive histories that even those of us obsessed with gay bars never heard, read, or knew before.\" -- Emily Colucci * Filthy Dreams *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreface. Drunk History, or I Just Wanna Hear a Good Beat  xiii\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments. I Feel Love\/Can’t Get You Out of My Head  xxi\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. We Were Never Being Boring  1\u003cbr\u003e Part I. Cultures\u003cbr\u003e 1. Nights in Black Leather: Inventing a Bar Culture in Chicago  37\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 1. Triangle Lounge in Denver  62\u003cbr\u003e 2. Show Me Love: Female Impersonation and Drag in Kansas City  68\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 2. Safe Spaces in Detroit  94\u003cbr\u003e Part II. Politics\u003cbr\u003e 3. Somewhere There’s a Place for Us: Urban Renewal, Gentrification, and Class Conflicts in Boston  101\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 3. Seattle Counseling Service  124\u003cbr\u003e 4. Midtown Goddam: Discrimination, Coalition, and Community in Atlanta  127\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 4. Gay Switchboard in Philadelphia  151\u003cbr\u003e Part III. Institutions\u003cbr\u003e 5. Welcome to the Pleasuredome: Legends of Sex and Dancing in New York  157\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 5. The Saloon in Minneapolis  192\u003cbr\u003e 6. Proud Mary’s: An Institution in Houston  198\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 6. The Main Club in Superior, WI  220\u003cbr\u003e Part IV. Reinventions\u003cbr\u003e 7. Further Tales of the City: Queer Parties in Post-disco San Francisco  227\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 7. The Casa Nova in Somerset County, PA  255\u003cbr\u003e 8. Donde Todo es Diferente: Queer Latinx Nightlife in Los Angeles \/ Researched and Written with Dan Bustillo  260\u003cbr\u003e Interlude 8. Mable Peabody’s Beauty Parlor and Chainsaw Repair in Denton, TX  289\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue. After Hours: Pulse in Orlando  294\u003cbr\u003e Appendix 1. Selected Bars and Clubs  303\u003cbr\u003e Appendix 2. LGBTQ+ Periodicals  313\u003cbr\u003e Notes  317\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography  395\u003cbr\u003e Index  425","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48867288744279,"sku":"9781478024958","price":23.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478024958.jpg?v=1722282613","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-bars-are-ours-9781478024958","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}