Charles Kaiser is an American author and journalist best known for his nonfiction books '' 1968 in America'' (1988), '' The Gay Metropolis'' (1997), and '' The Cost of Courage'' (2015). A former reporter for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', and ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', he is currently a nonfiction book critic for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

Biography

Kaiser was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the son of Philip Mayer Kaiser, a United States diplomat, and Hannah Greeley Kaiser; he has two brothers, one of them the journalist Robert Kaiser. He grew up in Washington,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

Dakar, Senegal Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

Windsor, Connecticut Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census. P ...

, and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

."Charles Kaiser: Author of ''The Gay Metropolis,''"
''Gay Today'' 3 Nov. 1997. Kaiser graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1972, and subsequently worked as a reporter for ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''. As a freelance journalist, he has contributed to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', the '' New York Observer'', '' New York'' magazine, and '' Vanity Fair''. His first book, '' 1968 in America'', was published in 1988. Kaiser's second book, '' The Gay Metropolis'' (1997), is a social history that traces the cultural accomplishments and increased social acceptance of

gay people This is a confirmed referenced overview list of notable gay, lesbian or bisexual people, who have either been open about their sexuality or for which reliable sources exist. The number of notables in the list is likely to be several times highe ...

in America between the years 1940 and 1996. Kaiser later said that he wrote the book out of "an obligation to bear witness to what we had all lived through AIDS_epidemic.html" ;"title="Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS.html" ;"title="uring the Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS">AIDS epidemic">Epidemiology_of_HIV/AIDS.html" ;"title="uring the Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS">AIDS epidemic" explaining, "I wanted to write a book that would include AIDS, but not be overwhelmed by it".Kranzky, Kyle
"A Landmark Book on Gay History Has Been Updated and Re-Released for a New Generation,"
''Los Angeles Magazine'' 23 Jul. 2019 In 2007, an updated edition of ''The Gay Metropolis'' was published, and Kaiser appeared on ''The Colbert Report'' to promote the book. In 2019, ''The Guardian'' described the third updated edition of ''The Gay Metropolis'' as "one of the key popular studies of American social history ndamong the first accounts that sought to provide an extended history of gay life (admittedly mostly male) before and after Stonewall." Kaiser's book has also been cited for popularizing the theory that

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

's funeral was one of the motivating factors behind the Stonewall riots. From 2007 to 2011, Kaiser wrote ''Full Court Press'', a blog about the media that appeared on

Radar Online Radar Online is an American entertainment and gossip website that was first published as a print and online publication in September 2003 before becoming exclusively online. As of 2008, the magazine has been owned by the publisher American Media ...

, the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, an ...

'', and the Sidney Hillman Foundation website. In 2012, Kaiser wrote the afterword for a new edition of

Merle Miller Merle Dale Miller (May 17, 1919 – June 10, 1986) was an American writer, novelist, and author who is perhaps best remembered for his best-selling biography of Harry S. Truman, and as a pioneer in the gay rights movement. Miller came out ...

's landmark 1971 work ''On Being Different: What it Means to Be a Homosexual.'' Kaiser's third book, ''The Cost of Courage'', follows the story of the Boulloches, a family who participated in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. To research the book, Kaiser lived in France for two and a half years, interviewing surviving members of the Boulloche family and studying newly declassified documents from

British intelligence agencies The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and do ...

.Kalb, Deborah
"Q&A with Charles Kaiser,"
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb 16 Jun. 2015. ''The Cost of Courage'' was published in 2015 to enthusiastic reviews from ''The Washington Post'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''The Christian Science Monitor''. In 2015, Kaiser said that his next project would be "a big book about New York since 1970." Kaiser has taught journalism at Columbia University and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

; in 2018, he was named Acting Director of the LGBTQ Public Policy Center at Hunter College. He lives on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan with his partner, the artist Joe Stouter.

Bibliography

* '' 1968 in America'' (1988) * '' The Gay Metropolis'' (1997) * '' The Cost of Courage'' (2015)

Honors

*1997

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Gay Studies (for ''The Gay Metropolis'') *2015 Paris Book Festival Award for General Non-Fiction (for ''The Cost of Courage'') *2015 Inducted into the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame

References

External links

*
Archive of articles
from the ''

''
Archive of articles
from ''

''
2010 interview
from the Binghamton University Digital Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Charles American male journalists Living people The New York Times writers The Wall Street Journal people Newsweek people Loomis Chaffee School alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Princeton University faculty Lambda Literary Award winners American LGBT journalists American gay writers 1950 births People from the Upper West Side 21st-century LGBT people