Houlbrook, Matt

PERSONAL:

Education: Cambridge University, M.A.; University of Essex, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office— School of History, University of Liverpool, 9 Abercromby Sq., Liverpool L69 7WZ, England. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, historian, and educator. University of Liverpool, School of History, senior lecturer in British cultural history.

MEMBER:

Royal Historical Society (fellow), Social History of Great Britain (member of executive committee).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Longman-History Today Book of the Year Prize, 2006, and Whitfield Prize, Royal Historical Society, both for Queer London.

WRITINGS:

"A Sun among Cities": Space, Identities, and Queer Male Practices, London 1918-1957, University of Essex (Essex, England), 2002.

Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2005.

(Editor, with H.G. Cocks)The Modern History of Sexuality, Palgrave Macmillan (Basingstoke, England), 2005, published as Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Identities in Space: Contested Terrains in the Western City since 1850, edited by Simon Gunn and R.J. Morris, Ashgate (London, England), 2001; and The Permissive Society and Its Enemies, edited by Marcus Collins, Rivers Oram Press (London, England), 2008.

Contributor to periodicals, including Historical Journal, History Workshop Journal, Journal of British Studies, Urban History, and Gender and History.

SIDELIGHTS:

A senior lecturer in British cultural history at the University of Liverpool, Matt Houlbrook is a writer, historian, and educator. "I work on the cultural history of 20th century Britain, with a particular interest in gender, sexualities and selfhood," Houlbrook stated on the University of Liverpool School of History Web site. Some of his more recent research projects have been fueled by an interest in "the profound public fascination with individuals who ‘faked it’—who crossed boundaries of class, gender, race, ethnicity or age in masquerading as something they were not" in the society and culture that emerged after World War I. Houlbrook's teaching efforts also focus on twentieth-century British cultural history, with classes on topics such as World War I, culture and memory, and sexuality and gender during the 1920s. In addition to his teaching and research, Houlbrook also serves as the director of studies for the School of History's M.A. degree in cultural history. He also supervises doctoral students pursuing dissertations in his areas of academic study.

Much of Houlbrook's prior research examined "the relationship between the city, social practice and sexual identities—how modern urban culture shaped the ways in which men and women experienced, organised and understood their sexual desires and practices," Houlbrook reported. The results of this research were published in Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957, an award-winning "literary journey into the lives of gay men in early twentieth-century London," noted a University of Liv-erpool Web site writer. The book "describes how gay people negotiated a ‘space’ for themselves in a city that didn't always understand or accept them," the writer stated.

Houlbrook's "superb study of homosexuality in London from 1918 to the 1950s" is "divided into four parts, each of which has something original to say," commented Julian Jackson in History Today. Part one "covers the policing of same-sex activity, showing the difficulty of establishing any clear trends in patterns of repression," Jackson noted. In part two, Houlbrook establishes the geographic patterns of homosexual activity in London, pointing out parks, public restrooms, swimming pools, pubs, private clubs, and restaurants that were tolerant if not welcoming of a gay clientele. The third part "examines identities—how participants in same-sex activity defined themselves," Jackson stated. Houlbrook observes that in the working-class culture of the time, gender role was more important an identifier than the actual choice of a sexual partner. Thus, more effeminate homosexuals existed comfortably with the more rough-and-tumble "bad boys" found among laborers, guardsmen, sailors, and working men. The fourth section of the book looks at efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in the 1950s and the political, social, and cultural conflicts that resulted. The book is filled with personal stories, individual sketches, and anecdotes about the men who lived and endured during these troubled times. "By revealing personal letters and diaries, Houlbrook brings to life the daily struggle many men had in trying to forge personal relationships. But to say this is simply an account of the lives of gay Londoners would not do it justice. For it is also a fascinating account of London itself," observed Socialist Review critic Peter Morgan. "This is scholarly history, but it is also the best kind of engaged history," Jackson commented, and concluded: "This is a book, finally, as much about London as about sexuality, demonstrating with empathy and subtlety both how sexuality was played out in the city and how it was shaped by it." Literary London reviewer Gregory Woods remarked that Houlbrook has produced a "fascinating and authoritative history, full of instructive detail and persuasive analysis. His London is queer to the extent of seeming quite ordinarily strange and beautiful."

Houlbrook is the editor, with editor H.G. Cocks, of The Modern History of Sexuality, a deep and detailed overview of the current state of scholarly thinking on the history of sexuality. "The editors and the contributors are among some of the most sparkling figures in the younger generation of scholars toiling in this area," observed Lesley A. Hall in Reviews in History. "These densely packed chapters discuss various fields in which history of sexuality is embroiled, the development of theories and arguments, and the questions that are being raised. Thus it is not ‘a history of sexuality’ as such, but a meta-level contribution providing a guide to how historians have thought, and are now thinking, about sexuality in history, focusing largely on the modern period," Hall remarked.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, June, 2006, Barry Reay, review of Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957, p. 905.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July-August, 2006, P.K. Cline, review of Queer London, p. 2083; October, 2006, M.J. Slaughter, review of Palgrave Advances in the Modern History of Sexuality, p. 381.

English Historical Review, April, 2006, Ross McKibbin, review of Queer London, p. 634.

History Today, March, 2006, "Matt Houlbrook, Book of the Year Winner," p. 3; March, 2006, Julian Jackson, review of Queer London, p. 62.

Journal of British Studies, July, 2006, Rebecca Jennings, review of Queer London, p. 696.

London Review of Books, September 7, 2006, Richard Horsey, review of Queer London, p. 32.

ONLINE

Literary London,http://www.literarylondon.org/ (November 18, 2007), Gregory Woods, review of Queer London.

Reviews in History,http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/ (June 9, 2006), Lesley A. Hall, review of The Modern History of Sexuality.

Socialist Review,http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/ (November 18, 2007), Peter Morgan, "Coming Out," review of Queer London.

University of Liverpool School of History Web site,http://www.liv.ac.uk/history/ (November 18, 2007), curriculum vitae of Matt Houlbrook.

University of Liverpool Web site,http://www.liv.ac.uk/ (January 16, 2006), "Historian Receives Prestigious Book Award for Research into Gay Cultures."