[14] After seven years researching the pre-Stonewall riots homophile movement,[15] Cervini signed a book deal with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux in 2018.

[19][20][21] Cervini examined the life of Kameny, who was a pioneer in early homophile movement for LGBTQ rights in the decades leading up to the 1969 Stonewall riots, and beyond.

[21] In the 1970s, Kameny scored multiple victories, one being the decision to strike homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental disorders.

[22][23] Charles Kaiser wrote of Kameny that he "may be responsible for more fundamental social change in the post-World War II world than any other American of his generation.”[22] New York magazine's "Approval Matrix" placed The Deviant's War in its quadrant for "brilliant" and "highbrow" and The Washington Post book review also called it "brilliant," as well as a "rich portrait of Kameny.

[27] He also covers other key figures in early LGBTQ history including Jack Nichols, Barbara Gittings, Jim Fouratt, Randy Wicker, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera.

[28] The Deviant's War was named to the New York Times Editor’s Choice Recommended Books,[29] won the 2021 Randy Shilts Award[30] and was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for History.