Book Description
"Written in 1965 about a same-sex sexual scandal that occurred in 1955 in Boise, Idaho, John Gerassi's classic study depicts both middle America's traditional response to homosexuality and an era in the country's history before the modern gay rights movement really got underway. Because much of what Gerassi wrote about persists in today's struggles over gay and lesbian issues, his book still has much to tell us about how contemporary society reacts to, andmisunderstands, homosexuality."--from the new Foreword by Peter Boag On the morning of November 2, 1955, the people of Boise, Idaho, were stunned by a screaming headline in the Idaho Daily Statesman, THREE BOISE MEN ADMIT SEX CHARGES. Time magazine picked up the story, reporting that a "homosexual underworld" had long operated in Idaho's staid capital city. The Statesman led the hysteria that resulted in dozens of arrests--including some highly placed members of the community--and sentences ranging from probation to life imprisonment. Peter Boag's Foreword places the book in historical perspective, summarizing the popular psychological theories and legal conceptions that helped to shape Gerassi's research.He discusses advances in Idaho's public approach to homosexuality and ways in which the provincialism chronicled by Gerassi persists to this day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Alternative Lifestyler's Must Read Book
The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read.

John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955.Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s.

The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.

Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today?The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community.There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.

The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources.While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized.It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.

The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

Classic American journalism
From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye.This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it.Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal.He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail.

A must-read for anyone interested in GLBT history, and also a classic piece of investigative journalism, Gerassi's book is an astonishing piece of work.(Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.) ... Read more