Book details
Harvard's Secret Court
The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals
Author: William Wright
Harvard's Secret Court
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About This Book
Book Details
"As mesmerizing as it is appalling." --The Boston Globe
Harvard's Secret Court reveals the controversial true story of an appalling scandal at Harvard University, when a group of deans and scholars attempted to expel a group of students for their sexuality.
In 2002, a researcher for The Harvard Crimson came across a restricted archive labeled "Secret Court Files, 1920." The mystery he uncovered involved a tragic scandal in which Harvard University secretly put a dozen students on trial for homosexuality and then systematically and persistently tried to ruin their lives.
In May of 1920, Cyril Wilcox, a freshman suspended from Harvard, was found sprawled dead on his bed, his room filled with gas--a suicide. The note he left behind revealed his secret life as part of a circle of homosexual students. The resulting witch hunt and the lives it cost remains one of the most shameful episodes in the history of America's premiere university. Supported by legendary Harvard President Lawrence Lowell, Harvard conducted its investigation in secrecy. Several students committed suicide; others had their lives destroyed by an ongoing effort on the part of Harvard to destroy their reputations.
Harvard's Secret Court is a deeply moving indictment of the human toll of intolerance and the horrors of injustice that can result when a powerful institution loses its balance.
Imprint Publisher
St. Martin's Press
ISBN
9781466830417
In The News
"As mesmerizing as it is appalling." --The Boston Globe
"Astonishing... Wright succeeds in compiling a drama that will satisfy readers thirsty for pop-historical scandals from our nation's unregenerate past." --Publishers Weekly
Praise for Wiliam Wright:
“Born That Way is a stimulating and highly readable introduction to the nature-nurture debate.” —Derek Bickerton, The New York Times Book Review
“A first-rate writer absolutely in command of his material.” —David Halberstam
“It takes an independent writer and free spirit to tell the story straight, and thank God Wright has done it.” —Edward O. Wilson, author of Consilience
“A revelation and a pleasure...It presents the mysteries of human genetics and behavior in a way that leaves the reader enlightened, conversant, and entertained. A most rewarding book.” —Robert Stone