An intriguing, compelling blend of genres that successfully navigates the personal and the larger-than-personal simultaneously. Great stuff.

This is one of my favorite types of books in that it combines the very personal and visceral (how bodies are policed and protected) with academic questions about etymology, identity, belonging, history, and geography. In short, this isn’t an easy read, but, in a culture where capitalism seems set on monopolizing all of our spaces and driving us into the world of the screen, this is a very necessary read. It isn’t easy, on another level, because notions of persecution and refuge have to live historically alongside issues of acceptance and finding a home. Here’s hoping that works like this one will lead to more safe and welcoming spaces!

Many thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the advanced copy. Available now!
Lin’s work takes us on a tour the gay bar community in the US and UK starting from his years as a student in the 90’s. Through his own personal history, Lin asks readers to reflect on the LGBTQ sense of community and how the bar scene deeply reflects what is happening to the community at any given time. Throughout the work, he asks readers to reflect on what it means to be queer, what it means to exists in these spaces, and ultimately what it all really means. Not for the faint of heart but also, as a member of the LGBTQ community and frequenter of gay bars, not all surprising.

Jeremy Atherton Lin takes us on tour of gay bars he has visited on his travels in the USA and UK. From his years as a student in the 90's in LA to more recent with his longtime partner "famous." He shares history of the gay bar scene including information dating back to the early 1900's up to more recent time. He shares the history of the gay bars and the legal history related to gay bars and those who visited them. While gay bars have been around for over a century they were not always as "accepted" as they are today. He also shares information as to what takes place in the bars, in their bathrooms, and all over the place. This is not a book for the faint hearted. Go in with an open mind and a willingness to not judge. As a straight lady who has been in a gay bar, I was not shocked at most of the happenings, but I will say I had not witnessed all that Jeremy shared. I am giving this a 3.5 star review rounded to 4. Thank you to NG, the publisher, and Mr. Lin for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Through these observations of gay bars, Lin generously crafts a works cited of bars both as institutions, but also as respites for the growing personhood for any of its attendees and their relationship with intimacy. Both historical and personal, Lin's prose is effortless in transporting the reader into anywhere between subjective bias onto the cultural entity that is the relationship between words like "gay", while also positioning oneself in asking what the intent of these spaces are for and whether or not we may need gay bars anymore. There's plenty of intrigue, context, delicacy, and cheeky personas in Gay Bar that jump off the page that shines a light on a community that Lin captures as being everchanging and evolving into new and exciting territory. Gay Bar is not a bibliography, but is instead an introduction to what's to come.