Glances Backward brings together in one volume a broad selection of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century American writings about gay male love, including love stories, Westerns, ghostly tales, poetry, drama, essays, letters, and memoirs.

Many of these works, such as The Cult of the Purple Rose, the story of a gay alliance at 1890s Harvard, are reprinted here for the first time since their original publication. Henry Blake Fuller’s "Allisonian Classical Academy" has until now been available only in manuscript form.

In addition to works by lesser-known authors, selections by Henry James, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Horatio Alger, Jr., Jack London, and Willa Cather are included.