From neighborhoods as large as Chelsea or the Castro, to locales limited to a single club, like The Shamrock in Madison or Sidewinders in Albuquerque, gay areas are becoming normal. Straight people flood in. Gay people flee out. Scholars call this transformation assimilation, and some argue that we—gay and straight alike—are becoming “post-gay.” Jason Orne argues that rather than post-gay, America is becoming “post-queer,” losing the radical lessons of sex. In Boystown, Orne takes readers on a detailed, lively journey through Chicago’s Boystown, which serves as a model for gayborhoods around the country. The neighborhood, he argues, has become an entertainment district—a gay Disneyland—where people get lost in the magic of the night and where straight white women can “go on safari.” In their original form, though, gayborhoods like this one don’t celebrate differences; they create them. By fostering a space outside the mainstream, gay spaces allow people to develop an alternative culture—a queer culture that celebrates sex. Orne spent three years doing fieldwork in Boystown, searching for ways to ask new questions about the connective power of sex and about what it means to be not just gay, but queer. The result is the striking Boystown, illustrated throughout with street photography by Dylan Stuckey. In the dark backrooms of raunchy clubs where bachelorettes wouldn’t dare tread, people are hooking up and forging “naked intimacy.” Orne is your tour guide to the real Boystown, then, where sex functions as a vital center and an antidote to assimilation.

A collection of souvenir photographs from brothels along the Texas-Mexico border from the early 1970s. Screenwriter & photographer Bill Wittliff collected & archived these discards for a remarkable effect; that of being a direct witness to the mesmerizing & complex world of Boystown.

This is the tale of Edward Flanagan, a young Irish lad shepherding a flock of sheep on a farm in Ballymoe, who became the famed Father Flanagan, founder of America's Boys Town, guardian of thousands of orphaned, neglected, and abandoned boys, and advisor to presidents. From a large Irish family, Flanagan suffered through ill health and setbacks to pursue his desire to join the priesthood. Following his older brother and fellow priest to the plains of Nebraska, he served several parishes and opened a hotel for homeless men before finding his life's mission to care for and give a voice to young boys whom society had despaired of and cast aside. Father Flanagan opened his home in 1917 for boys of any race and creed. In this definitive biography, the authors recount his struggles with drought, fire, lack of funds, and skeptical citizens to create a safe haven for these boys. He welcomed Hollywood to Boys Town to recount his story in two films, sent off scores of his boys to do battle in World War II, and toured the orphanages of Asia and Europe to report on the needs of children victimized by that war. At the time of his death in 1948, Father Flanagan was seen as one of the world's foremost advocates for children, especially those without parents or relatives to care for them and those judged guilty of some crime and locked away in reform schools or prisons. The legacy of Father Flanagan is one that inspires all who care for the welfare of children today.

From neighborhoods as large as Chelsea or the Castro, to locales limited to a single club, like The Shamrock in Madison or Sidewinders in Albuquerque, gay areas are becoming normal. Straight people flood in. Gay people flee out. Scholars call this transformation assimilation, and some argue that we—gay and straight alike—are becoming “post-gay.” Jason Orne argues that rather than post-gay, America is becoming “post-queer,” losing the radical lessons of sex. In Boystown, Orne takes readers on a detailed, lively journey through Chicago’s Boystown, which serves as a model for gayborhoods around the country. The neighborhood, he argues, has become an entertainment district—a gay Disneyland—where people get lost in the magic of the night and where straight white women can “go on safari.” In their original form, though, gayborhoods like this one don’t celebrate differences; they create them. By fostering a space outside the mainstream, gay spaces allow people to develop an alternative culture—a queer culture that celebrates sex. Orne spent three years doing fieldwork in Boystown, searching for ways to ask new questions about the connective power of sex and about what it means to be not just gay, but queer. The result is the striking Boystown, illustrated throughout with street photography by Dylan Stuckey. In the dark backrooms of raunchy clubs where bachelorettes wouldn’t dare tread, people are hooking up and forging “naked intimacy.” Orne is your tour guide to the real Boystown, then, where sex functions as a vital center and an antidote to assimilation.

Remi is so full of energy, he can’t sit still, stay focused, or be patient. He darts and dashes in every direction, and his mind races from one idea to the next. In all the commotion, homework never gets done, assignments go missing, a field trip almost ends in disaster, and a much-wanted spaceship is left behind. Will Remi ever learn to slow down and calm himself long enough to get organized, stay focused, and find success?

Finalist for the Lambda Award in Gay Mystery, Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries takes place in Chicago during the early 1980s. Haunted by his abrupt departure from the Chicago Police Department and the end of his relationship with librarian Daniel Laverty, Nick Nowak is a beat cop-turned-dogged private investigator. In this first book of the series, Nick works through three cases: a seemingly simple missing persons search, an arson investigation, and a suicide that turns out to be anything but. While working the cases, Nick moves through a series of casual relationships until he meets homicide detective Bert Harker and begins a tentative relationship