Lorca is one of the greatest modern poets. His later and most powerful works however remain elusive even to Lorca scholars. For just as Lorca cannot be understood in isolation from the cultural traditions of Spain and Andalusia, so it is also necessary to appreciate the poet's vantage point as a gay person, if his meaning is to be fully understood.

The hinge of this stimulating and emphatic study is Lorca's visit to New York in 1929. Many of the tensions of his New York poems are show to be anticipated in his earlier works. The book goes on to trace in Lorca's subsequent writings the impact of his confrontation with the American metropolis, and the sharpened awareness of a gay identity to which this gave rise.