David K. Johnson
AUTHOR

David K. Johnson

Politics & Social Sciences
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David K. Johnson is an award-winning historian and author. His book "The Lavender Scare" first brought the cold war era purge of homosexuals from the federal government to national prominence. It became the basis for an award-winning documentary film of the same name broadcast nationwide on PBS. Johnson's historical research has inspired a novel, a play, an opera and now a Showtime series ("Fellow Travelers") exploring how the gay community of Washington, D.C. experienced McCarthy era homophobia. The term "Lavender Scare" has become almost as well known as the contemporary Red Scare. In 2023 he published a new edition of this now classic work, with a new epilogue taking the story forward to the current era. His most recent book, "Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement," chronicles the rise of a gay commercial mail-order network in the years before the Stonewall Riots. Shortlisted for the PROSE Award in U.S. History, the Hagley Prize in Business History, and the Randy Shilts Award in gay studies, "Buying Gay" won the John Boswell Prize from the American Historical Association's Committee on LGBT History and the Smithsonian Institution's award for scholarship on the significance of the postal service in American life. The Advocate magazine named it one of the best queer books of 2019. Attitude magazine called it "an accessible, detailed and riveting journey into the pioneering early gay physique industry." David earned a B.A.from Georgetown University and a Ph.D.from Northwestern University, both in history. He has enjoyed fellowships from the National Humanities Center, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Social Science Research Council. He has appeared on CNN and CBS Sunday Morning. As Professor in the History Department at the University of South Florida, he teaches courses on the post-1945 U.S. and the history of gender and sexuality.
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