Rent Boys: A History from Ancient Times to the Present

by Michael Hone

This fully illustrated book spans the history of rent boys from the Greeks, the most famous of which was Alcibiades, through Rome to the Renaissance where a rent boy was made a cardinal and where others were responsible for the most appalling murders of the period. Victorian England was a rent-boy’s heaven, and Berlin and Paris their Mecca. This book is about boys who sold themselves and about the men who bought them--often the selling their services when young, consumers when old. The book ends with the Hollywood actors of yesteryear and the escort services of today. ‘’Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards,’’ Willem Arondeus cried out before a Nazi firing squad in 1943. The purpose of my books, all my books, from Homosexual Heroes to Rent Boys, is the affirmation that homosexuals, from da Vinci to Nietzsche, have done their part in the enlightenment and advancement of civilization. We are no more, but certainly no less, than those who have made this world a passionate, colorful, unique adventure.

Genres: Sexuality, Queer, History

263 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2015

Reviews

[Terry Anderson]

This was simultaneously one of the most entertaining and interesting and worst pieces of claptrap I've ever read.

Michael Hone writes with an air of authority, as if everything he says should be believable because he said it. About 30 pages into the book I couldn't help but wonder where he was finding his little tidbits of admittedly interesting information, so I turned to the references, and voilà: each reference refers the reader back to one of the author's other books (See my book on such and such... See my book on this that and the other...). Oh sure, there's a bibliography, but Hone never uses it. He cites specific facts as being based on his truth rather than his having gleaned it from another author and never gives credit to other researchers. I found his "just believe me" approach to history and scholarship more than annoying. Here's a whopper, for example: "Luckily, a chronicler mentioned Richard I and Philippe II's sharing a bed (15)." Reference 15 is listed as follows: "See my book Christ has his John, I have my George: The History of British Homosexuality." So, does that mean the chronicler of Richard I and Philippe is Michael Hone?

Hone's book contains so many overblown statements and broad generalizations that it's impossible not to roll one's eyes (e.g., "because the blasé French accept, as natural, the inherent immorality of men"; "We have the example of a boy who related to another boy how he had been fucked—but well paid—in a park."; "Berlin, the world capital of homosexual sex and available rent boys.").

The book is poorly edited and contains hundreds of simple errors (e.g., in the chapter on Lord Byron, in at least a dozen places the man is referred to as Bryon. Sometimes Bryon and Byron appeared with just a few words separating them. Any good editor or proofreader would have caught that and hundreds of other mistakes, from incorrect and inconsistent capitalization to weird language (e.g., "Found guilty of treason, Conan Doyle was the first come forward with ..." What? Conan Doyle was found guilty of treason?).

Oy vey. If this is history and scholarship, God help us all.

[Liam Ostermann]

I've just posted a review of the author's ridiculously bad 'Boarding School Homosexuality' and I assure you this book is equally bad and stupid. He prefaces all of his books with this ringing declaration:

"The inspiration of my books dates from the French Revolution with its Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789, the end of homophobia in 1791, followed by the right of each man to marry the boy of his choice in 2013"

Really? where did homophobia end in 1791? If he referring to France then he really doesn't know anything about the history of homosexuality in France. Just because something is not illegal doesn't mean there were no prosecutions - in the UK prosecution of homosexuals increased after decriminalisation in 1967 - and were was it legal for a 'man to marry the boy of his choice in 2013' (Hone's words).

This so stupid I refuse to devote any more time analysing its manifold inadequacies.

[Bil Antoniou]

Rigorous research on the level of a really long Facebook post, but not boring. it's most lamentable quality is the poor writing and grammar, as if the author wrote a first draft and hit publish without proofreading.

[Lee]

needs editing

A good editor needs to review this book for typos and sentence structure. The content bounces around in the timeline. Also there is a lot of self promotion for the authors other books. More gossipy than educational which is the only reason I completed it. :)

[Mick Meyers]

the best part of the book,where a chapter about film stars I found interesting.but the classics covered in the early part of the book very well researched.