Vice patrol: cops, courts, and the struggle over urban gay life before Stonewall

Introduction

When anyone can tell : liquor codes, gay bars, and the politics of common sense

Expert witnesses and the struggle for public authority over homosexuality

Plainclothes decoys and the battle over the limits of criminal justice

Passing as deviant : gay culture and the rise of ethnographic policing

Peepholes and perverts : clandestine surveillance and the enigma of the cruiser

The popular press and the gay world

Epilogue.