Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Tchaikovsky, Oscar Wilde, Ernst Rohm, Noel Coward--these men shared a sexual orientation that defied their eras' ideas of biology, and often ran counter to mainstream society. In this book, A.L. Rowse, an eminent historian, examines the lives of these homosexual men of genius and their times. of illustrations.

This work is a contribution to social history and portrays the life of each class from the court downwards - nobles, gentry, the middle class, country folk - and their mentality, conscious or unconscious, to which their way of life gave rise, with its folklore and beliefs, customs and sport.