Review: Peter Boag: Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest.

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review: True to its subtitle, Peter Boag's marvelous study, Same-Sex Affairs, details the myriad shapes of same-sex relationships in the United States' Pacific Northwest as well as how they developed, became defined, were labeled, and, ultimately, how they were controlled. Clearly a labor of love and certainly a research triumph, Boag's book propels the reader through tantalizingly detailed narratives of male-male desires and public response to them in and around Portland, Oregon, during the early part of the twentieth century. Boag has a special talent for making the lives of his subjects leap from the page and for interweaving complex theories of gender and sexuality with specific historical information so that the reader witnesses as philosophy becomes embodied. Among many fresh ideas for understanding same-sex sexuality during the early decades of the twentieth century, Boag's most compelling arguments include his revision of the implications for working-class transgressive sex acts, his determination that the modern, urban-centered, gay identity grew out of the middle class, and his suggestion that Progressive Era attempts to control homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest lay the groundwork for later assays nationwide.