Drawing on sources ranging from newspaper accounts to private archives, and incorporating more than 200 images, Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Purtians to Playland, is the most comprehensive LGBTQ city history every written. The book delves into its subject through an extraordinary variety of perspectives and periods, subjects and sources, and explores the impact of numerous historic events and trends, including Prohibition, censorship, World War II, and urban development.

Compiled by The History Project and published by Beacon Press, Improper Bostonians was published in 1998 to wide critical acclaim. The book virtually sold out its initial hardcover run of 10,000 copies, and was published in a paperback edition by Quality Paperback Books. Members of The History Project have presented a slide show based on the book to thousands of spectators at venues across the country.