title: Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940
author:  George Chauncey 
description: Chauncey reconstructs New York's pre-WWII gay community, revealing a group that was deeply involved in the city's social and cultural scenes. <br />Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  ![cover.jpg](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **Author 's Note**
  
  
  
  
  
  THIS story contains references to gay men that are often considered offensive
  by today's standards. However, at the time of the story's setting (1932), they
  were in common usage by the gay community and were not considered derogatory.
  The negative terms used then were not the same ones we use now. For more
  information, see _Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the
  Gay Male World 1890-1940_ by George Chauncey, which provides an in-depth look,
  including a handy explanation of the slang, into the life of the early century
  "homosexualist."
  
  
  Additional selected resources used in writing this book:
  
  
  _The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture, 1880-1950_ , Jenna
  Weissman Joselit, on Jewish cultural identity and ritualistic behavior in
  America.
  
  
  _You Must Remember This_ by Jeff Kisseloff, an oral history of Manhattan from
  the 1890s to WWII.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  THE character Joshua Pascal also appears in the s