“Revelatory.... Koresky wears his erudition lightly, teasing out the mixed messages of code-era films with aplomb. It's a sterling work of film criticism.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Koresky analyzes Judy Garland as a gay icon and probes the portrayal of the social outcast in Tea and Sympathy and in Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer. Such movies resonate for queer viewers, Koresky asserts, because they capture the longing for acceptance … A sensitive response to a rich trove of movies.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An engaging and thought-provoking book recommended for LGBTQIA+ and film studies collections.” —Library Journal

“From its elegant and impassioned introduction through a text that is historically grounded and glittering with insight, this is destined to become an instant classic. Koresky brings his strength as one of the finest and most knowledgeable film critics writing today to locating the strands of queer cinema within the history of cinema writ large, especially through the years of censorship. He knows the importance of confronting 'negative' images, not as anathema but as rich sources of competing and interrelated tropes. His portrait of The Children's Hour and its various permutations is a spellbinder in itself.” —Molly Haskell, film critic and author of FRANKLY, MY DEAR: GONE WITH THE WIND REVISITED

“An emotional celebration of artists gay and straight who bucked the Motion Picture Production Code of the twentieth century that aimed to erase queer lives. In a new age of censorship and book bans, Sick and Dirty feels itself like a glorious act of defiance. Koresky's writing crackles with urgency, and thank goodness because it's a history we're in danger of repeating.
” —Steven Rowley, New York Times bestselling author of THE CELEBRANTS and THE GUNCLE

“While The Celluloid Closet anatomized the tragic fate of the homosexual on the big screen, Koresky examines queerness itself as an unwitting by-product of the Production Code censors in the Golden Age of Hollywood.” —Philip Gefter, author of COCKTAILS WITH GEORGE AND MARTHA

“The word 'critic' is too limiting when applied to Michael Koresky. He is one, of course, but he's also a historian, an enthusiast, a passionate guide. Whatever you want to call him, Sick and Dirty amply demonstrates what those of us who've followed him for years already know: he's one of the best in the business. Blending together keen biographical detail, wonderful storytelling, and insightful reads of films both famous and not, Sick and Dirty illuminates the hidden queerness of Hollywood's Golden Age. The results are an important, revelatory addition to both LGBTQ history and film studies, and wonderful fun to read.” —Isaac Butler, award-winning author of THE METHOD

“Koresky writes in a clear, direct, always natural style that complements the sincerity and generosity with which he approaches the art. One can always sense that he writes about films because he loves them, not because he wants to conquer them. He is fascinated by the way films of different eras reflect the collective political psychology of their time, and he is an inquisitive and engaged historian.” —Ari Aster, director

“In Koresky's capable hands we meet some of the most remarkable queer figures of classic Hollywood . . . combining scholarly and historical rigor with accessibility . . . The power of a book like Sick and Dirty lies in its ability to deeply excavate the painful and conflicted histories of queerness in Hollywood.” —Omnivorous