Gay New York by historian George Chauncey “brilliantly shatters the myth that before the 1960s gay life existed only in the closet, where gay men were isolated, invisible, and self-hating. Drawing on a rich trove of diaries, legal records, and other unpublished documents, Chauncey constructs a fascinating portrait of a vibrant, cohesive gay world that is not supposed to have existed.” The book “forever changed how [society thinks] about the history of gay life in New York City, and beyond.”