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An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society
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An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society Hardcover - 1999

by Jennifer Terry


From the publisher

Drawing on original research from medical texts, psychiatric case histories, pioneering statistical surveys, first-person accounts, legal cases, sensationalist journalism, and legislative debates, Jennifer Terry has written a nuanced and textured history of how the century-old obsession with homosexuality is deeply tied to changing American anxieties about social and sexual order in the modern age. Terry's overarching argument is compelling: that homosexuality served as a marker of the abnormal against which malleable, tenuous, and often contradictory concepts of the normal were defined. One of the few histories to take into consideration homosexuality in both women and men, Terry's work also stands out in its refusal to erase the agency of people classified as abnormal. She documents the myriad ways that gays, lesbians, and other sexual minorities have coauthored, resisted, and transformed the most powerful and authoritative modern truths about sex. Proposing this history as a useable past, An American Obsession is an indispensable contribution to the study of American cultural history.

First line

When they first appeared in the late nineteenth century, scientific writings on homosexuality offered meditations on the complex nature of sexuality in modernity and especially on the myriad social disruptions and cultural transformations with which modernity came to be associated.

Details

  • Title An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society
  • Author Jennifer Terry
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition 2nd
  • Pages 551
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • Date December 15, 1999
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780226793665 / 0226793664
  • Weight 2.01 lbs (0.91 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.33 x 6.41 x 1.48 in (23.70 x 16.28 x 3.76 cm)
  • Themes
    • Demographic Orientation: Urban
    • Sex & Gender: Gay
    • Sex & Gender: Lesbian
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Library of Congress subjects Homosexuality - United States - History, Homosexuality - History
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 99020809
  • Dewey Decimal Code 307.766

Media reviews

Citations

  • Kirkus Reviews, 10/01/1999, Page 1565
  • Library Journal, 01/01/2000, Page 140
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An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society

by Terry, Jennifer

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University of Chicago Press, 1999-12-15. Hardcover. New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!
Item Price
$163.03
$5.45 shipping to USA