Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Secret City dives into the nitty gritty of the LGBTQIA community in Washington DC. While it is evident that the author did perform extensive research prior to the completion of this novel, the majority of the early stories were circumspect. I had hoped for more extensive one-on-one interviews with policy-makers, but many stories are cobbled accounts of hearsay.
Where the author does delve into a more evidenced-based story during the cold war, it is not the redemptive arc that I was hoping for: in summation, conspiracy theories and plot points against the large government including internal communism.
What was inspiring was the number of members of government that openly lived their truth paving the way for the current laws and regulations that we now have. I would not recommend this book as a light read, it was very heavy in regards to content and backstory.

t’s intimidating at 800+ pages (or 24 hours in audio), but it’s almost always fascinating, even if the stories and the (mostly) male subjects find themselves in similar predicaments. It’s a commitment, but readers interested in history will find it worth the time. I was particularly fascinated by the Reagan years and the horrors of a pandemic mostly unacknowledged until it was impossible to ignore.

This was a big book, over 25 hours of audio, and I had to take breaks in listening. I thought the book was interesting and the narrator is great but I found the subject matter rough sometimes and just needed to pause now and again.
Content warning: predatory behavior- both preying on and being preyed upon- and of course homophobia. Additionally (and this is where I had to pause for a bit) there is a long list of people loosing their jobs, being outed, having their lives and careers ruined, jumping out of windows, and other suicides. As a member of the gay community this was tough section to get through.
The material is well researched and detailed many things that I frankly had no idea had taken place. There is so much material to cover that sometimes I felt a bit lost in the facts but I don't see another way that this could have been edited or presented so that may just be a personal preference.

Thank you NetGalley for the advance copy.

<i>Secret City</i> tells the story of LGBT history, mostly gay or bisexual men, in Washington D.C., focusing on the era between the end of World War II and the 1990s. Kirchick clearly did deep research for this book and doesn’t leave out any details.

Ron Butler did a nice job narrating the audiobook. However, I think for me, this might have been a better book to have a physical copy of. The names and events kept blurring together. I knew about McCarthy accusing people of being communist, but I was not so familiar with the Lavender Scare, so I definitely learned a lot by listening to the audiobook. Clocking in at over 26 hours long, I almost wish this book had been broken up into 2 or 3 volumes. Still, I recommend checking it out if you are interested in politics and the LGBTQ+ community.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

We have come a long way, and yet still have a long way to go. This is books is a very well researched sprawling history of gay Washington, DC. It is an important document for the history of the LGBTQ+ community. Thank you to NetGalley and Mcmillan Audio for the advance copy.

In a town where secrets or as good as currency having to hide your sexuality could be nerve-racking but when a disease Mark Chu as it’s victim and a perpetrator at the same time it can be overwhelming. In the history of gay and lesbian politicians I learned in the book it is better to be essential as a post to influential. The history of homosexuals is it old as the history of humans and like most history of the road is stained with victims of violence, broken hearts untold stories to tell there is so much you get angry and finally just say screw it I’m going to be who I’m going to be and that is what’s going on today. This was such a great an interesting book I love books about social interaction and especially where things started and ended and I must say this is as interesting as a Jane Austen book I loved it and can’t say enough about it. even if you have a passing interest with social interaction you would love this book. Having a daughter who is a lesbian I am so appreciative of all the people that came before her to make it OK to be 15 in not be like everyone else. I was given this book by Net Gally and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any errors as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

Secret City is a massive (800 pages) book about the persecution of gay men and women in the American government from the FDR administration through the Bill Clinton presidency. It is wonderfully written with details that are shocking, fascinating, and funny in turns. This book is overflowing with stories of compelling individuals on all sides of the "question" of homosexuality. I have a few quibbles: I wish the book were shorter and released, as was Robert Caro's masterpiece biography of LBJ, in separate volumes. It was also painful to read of the suffering endured by so many gifted people in public service who lived in justified fear of their private lives being exposed. These stories are important, and our compassion for the people presented is well-deserved, but it is terribly sad and upsetting as are books about the persecution and even genocide of ethnic groups in this country. These emotional responses are a testament to James Kirchick's vivid, you-are-there writing. The sun breaks through somewhat during the Clinton administration as gay people are given some protections, but there was still "don't ask, don't tell" and the denial of many civil rights (such as marriage) to remind us of how far we still had/have to go. My third quibble is about the narrator of the audiobook. He has a wonderful voice that does not get tiresome to listen to for hours...but he mispronounces so many words and names of people and places! Andre Gide's name is pronounces "Jeed" with as much French spin as you can come up with on the G. Proust is mispronounced at least once as "Prowst". Aaarrrgggh. And ordinary words, usually of three syllables, like "concomitant" do not fare well. I can never understand book narrators not taking the time to check a dictionary.
BUT this is a book that is well worth the reader's time...even if you need to take regular breaks!

This book had an opportunity to dishy and gossipy but I felt it turned out to be a rather serious work. II really wanted an entertaining read but this was just not what I was expecting.