Overview of the history of the queer resort spot near NYC, more or less starting with Walt Whitman (who may have never been there) and going forward to present day. The book started as a look at the history via the literature, photographs, films and other artistic depictions of it, and still leans very heavily in that direction. It's largely chronological, but also leans heavily on a theme for each period, with the author ties in with his own experience in gay culture. This goes a bit more smoothly in some places than in others. It made me want to look up a bunch of the books he referenced, but I think I could've used a broader focus than novelists. I did like that it didn't shy away from the elitism and exclusiveness of the resorts, and various attempts to cope with those and other problems.