Author(s): James Kirchick

History | New Releases

For Decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with more than one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country. Secret City illuminates how homosexuality shaped every presidential administration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. Magisterial in scope and intimate in detail, Secret City will forever transform our understanding of American history.

November 2023