“Life is a masquerade, old chum” could serve as the motto for Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City, a guided tour through the forgotten byways and fabulous lore of cross-dressing and gender-bending. The book couldn’t arrive at a more critical juncture, as neo-Puritan scourges target Drag Queen Story Hour and inclusive bathrooms as threats to our once fertile nation.
Its author, the effervescent Elyssa Maxx Goodman (who also goes by the handle “Miss Manhattan”), is best known around the beehive as the host of a monthly nonfiction reading series in the East Village which has attracted a loyal audience of literate hotties since 2014. She is also a widely published journalist and photographer. But this book, her first, represents her overriding longtime pash.
