Boyopolis

by Stan Persky

Cruising the chaotic world of the mind and body that emerged in post-Communist Eastern Europe, Stan Persky, author of the gay underground bestseller Buddy's: Meditations on Desire, witnessed first-hand the sexual and political demi-monde that flourished during this period of upheaval. In these provocative pieces about his odyssey, Persky fascinatingly and intelligently lays bare the underbelly of Berlin - its "boyopolis" - a world of gay bars, houses of pleasure and cabarets. As a gay writer, a teacher of philosophy and a journalist who grew up in Chicago in a Jewish/Italian neighborhood during the Cold War, Persky has a fascinating take on the reanimation of Berlin, whose underground thrived earlier in the century as chronicled by Isherwood, Spender and others.