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A review by carriekellenberger
Stonewall by Martin Duberman
4.0
A good account of the modern gay rights movement and gay life in America during the 60s and early 70s.
Duberman includes biographies for six influential leaders for gay, lesbian and trans leaders in the community: Craig Rodwell, Yvonne Flowers, Karla Jay, Forest Gunnison, Sylvia Rivera, and Jim Fouratt.
This book is meticulously researched, as are all of Duberman's books. He holds a Ph.D in American history from Harvard and has written over 30 books. This book draws on archival research of the homophile movement in the 50s and 60s before moving to an overview of the gay organizations that were created after the Stonewall Rebellion. Throughout his book, he writes about his subjects and their lives, while highlighting details from the Stonewall Riot and details about everyday life for LGBT people at the time.
The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided at 1am on June 28, 1969. The raids happened frequently, but on this day, patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back. The riot lasted for five days and it changed the face of lesbian and gay life in America forever. Although Stonewall is thought to be the event that started the modern Gay Rights movement, this book reveals that there was far more going on and that it was not the beginning of the modern Gay Rights movement in America.
I enjoyed the stories for each individual although I found the manner in which Duberman laid his book out for each person was hard to follow. He switches perspectives too often and it is confusing for the first half of the book. I also felt that there was a slight bias towards gay males over the other individuals in this book.
The descriptions of the arguments over whether the LGBT movement should join other major civil rights movements like the Black Panthers also made for an interesting read.
The name of this book is a little misleading, by the way. 90% of this book is focused on LGBT movements at the time with only 10% dedicated to the actual riot. That said, an informative read!
Duberman includes biographies for six influential leaders for gay, lesbian and trans leaders in the community: Craig Rodwell, Yvonne Flowers, Karla Jay, Forest Gunnison, Sylvia Rivera, and Jim Fouratt.
This book is meticulously researched, as are all of Duberman's books. He holds a Ph.D in American history from Harvard and has written over 30 books. This book draws on archival research of the homophile movement in the 50s and 60s before moving to an overview of the gay organizations that were created after the Stonewall Rebellion. Throughout his book, he writes about his subjects and their lives, while highlighting details from the Stonewall Riot and details about everyday life for LGBT people at the time.
The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided at 1am on June 28, 1969. The raids happened frequently, but on this day, patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back. The riot lasted for five days and it changed the face of lesbian and gay life in America forever. Although Stonewall is thought to be the event that started the modern Gay Rights movement, this book reveals that there was far more going on and that it was not the beginning of the modern Gay Rights movement in America.
I enjoyed the stories for each individual although I found the manner in which Duberman laid his book out for each person was hard to follow. He switches perspectives too often and it is confusing for the first half of the book. I also felt that there was a slight bias towards gay males over the other individuals in this book.
The descriptions of the arguments over whether the LGBT movement should join other major civil rights movements like the Black Panthers also made for an interesting read.
The name of this book is a little misleading, by the way. 90% of this book is focused on LGBT movements at the time with only 10% dedicated to the actual riot. That said, an informative read!