Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington

4.6 | 592 ratings

Price: 29.52

Last update: 08-15-2024

About this item

2022 New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, Long-listed

"Not since Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson have I been so riveted by a work of history. Secret City is not gay history. It is American history.”
—George Stephanopoulos

Washington, D.C., has always been a city of secrets. Few have been more dramatic than the ones revealed in James Kirchick’s Secret City.

For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention” held enormous, terrifying power.

Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, Secret City is a chronicle of American politics like no other. Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of “the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States,” James Kirchick illuminates how homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration through the end of the twentieth century. Cultural and political anxiety over gay people sparked a decades-long witch hunt, impacting everything from the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI to the ascent of Joseph McCarthy, the struggle for Black civil rights, and the rise of the conservative movement. Among other revelations, Kirchick tells of the World War II–era gay spymaster who pioneered seduction as a tool of American espionage, the devoted aide whom Lyndon Johnson treated as a son yet abandoned once his homosexuality was discovered, and how allegations of a “homosexual ring” controlling Ronald Reagan nearly derailed his 1980 election victory.

Magisterial in scope and intimate in detail, Secret City will forever transform our understanding of American history.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

Robert May

Easily one of the best books I’ve read in many a year.

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024

Easily one of the best books I’ve read in many a year. Covering eleven administrations from FDR to Bill Clinton from 1925 to 1995, “the story of the secret city,” summarizes the author, “…mirrors that of the country as well.” Among the events examined are HUAC, the Lavendar Scare, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the AIDS Pandemic, the death of Rock Hudson, the simultaneous fawning and indifference of the Reagans…these stories are by turns fascinating, tragic, instructive, apocryphal, compelling. The research is exhaustive, the prose easily readable. Recommended. An important achievement by James Kirchick.

Precode Fan

A must for all Washingtonians

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2023

First, let it be said that Kirchick is a terrific researcher and writer. I learned so much about the "secret city," coexisting and sometimes intersecting with "open" or "aboveground" Washington DC. For instance, I did not know that the Zephyr Restaurant and Bar, a favorite hangout of my student days, was the site of a brawl/mini-riot in November 1970 when it was invaded by members of the Gay Liberation Front and Black Panthers. Wonder if any survivors of the brawl on either side are alive to tell their story.

Second, Kirchick's account of the Reagan years, the most extensive section in the book, is a brilliant takedown of that "low, dishonest decade" (apologies to Auden). The massive hypocrisy--an administration abundantly stocked with closeted gay staffers denying the existence of AIDS, and coke-sniffing Reaganites celebrating "just-say-no" Ronnie and Nancy at the 1984 convention in Houston--is mind-boggling. Kirchick deftly paints the picture for us without overt editorializing. One of his throwaway lines: describing the Top Gun movie as a "promotional film for defense spending and hawkish foreign policy propelled by male bodies and disco music."

Third, in the section on the George H.W. Bush years, Kirchick resurrects from obscurity Craig Spence, bringing dignity to the life of a Gatsby wannabe that, if depicted by someone less sympathetic, could appear merely pathetic.

To repeat, Kirchick is a helluva writer.

Lanning M Penn

Very interesting historical overview.

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2022

Interesting even beyond its main theme of gay life in DC.

Kevin O'Connor

The research is incredibly thorough and captivating

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2023

As a 70 ish gay man, I was fascinated with the historical background of his stories. Being "gay" has been "unspoken." For so many people. It was undoubtedly true in many of the eras covered in the book. The book has such an appropriate title—secret, hidden history. I would add a word like hypocrisy. I recognized so many of the names in his account and made ready connections to the characters I had yet to learn about in my lifetime. As I read it, I frequently said to myself, "If, only........". The detail of his research and the way he supports his content gives me pause to consider the corruption of these hidden histories. The stories reveal much about a culture of repression. Having lived through the Reagan years while raising infants, I marvel at how much extensive damage he and Nancy did during their years of betrayal to their friends and colleagues who had helped them to get to their DC position.....plus knowing that so many were dying when they could have done more to be advocates and not adversaries. Politics and political life hinder progress so extensively. Not only Reagan....but so many other leaders and people in "positions" restricted the progress and health of gay people and society. This book speaks the truth. It is a vital resource for all those who have worked in government and those now working in political environments in DC and across the country.

notafan

Definitive History of Gay DC

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2023

I've read a few histories of gay Washington but none as meticulously researched and as deep-diving at Secret City. It feels as if it's as complete a history as we might ever get of the hidden homosexual world of the city which was so intertwined with the politics of the city because so many of the people who lived their lives in the shadows (or entirely in the dark) took their secrets with them to their graves.

At any rate, the book is beyond fascinating. The writing is alive and continually moves forward, never coming across as dry or droning as some non-fiction books can. I loved the fact that the author segmented the book along the lines of each presidential administration, framing each era under the umbrella of the man and the party both of which drove the culture and the policy of the city and the country.

Excellent book and a must-read for any political historian.

David

Who Knew Old Abe????

Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2023

Well Abe Lincoln maybe couldn’t tell a lie but he certainly could not tell the truth about his male concubine.

This book is great, interesting, kept me riveted to my seat

Reminded me of the game “Mystery Date” when you never knew who was behind the white (closet) door

Alec M. McAusland

Great fun

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2024

Well written, throughly researched, great fun to read. Highly recommended.

Jim in San Diego

650 page well-researched history book

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2022

This was not an "easy read" for me. It is a well-researched book but reads like a textbook. The hardcover book is 650 pages with an additional nearly 200 pages of index, credits, and notes. It is full of peoples' names and titles which I found challenging to follow. Given that, it is an important book that documents the history of and the role of largely closeted gay people in Washington D.C. For me, I would have probably been more satisfied if I had purchased a summary of the book.

Best Sellers in

House of Crimson Hearts: Kingdom of Immortal Lovers, Book 1

4.6 1104

29.66

The Seep

4.1 414

Me & the Cop

3.6 31

3.46

A Lesbian's Guide to Women

4.7 1773

17.46

One Little Secret: Don't Call Me Hero, Book 4

4.7 873

15.3

All In: An Autobiography

4.6 1403

21.66

All the Young Men: A Memoir of Love, AIDS, and Chosen Family in the American South

4.8 2196