Modern American Queer History

Critical Perspectives on the Past

by Allida M. Black

In the twentieth century, countless Americans claimed gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender identities, forming a movement to secure social as well as political equality. This collection of essays considers the history as well as the historiography of the queer identities and struggles that developed in the United States in the midst of widespread upheaval and change. Whether the subject is an individual life story, a community study, or an aspect of public policy, these essays illuminate the ways in which individuals in various locales understood the nature of their desires and the possibilities of resisting dominant views of normality and deviance. Theoretically informed, but accessible, the essays shed light too on the difficulties of writing history when documentary evidence is sparse or coded, Taken together these essays suggest that while some individuals and social networks might never emerge from the shadows, the persistent exploration of the past for their traces is an integral part of the on-going struggle for queer rights.

Genres: History, LGBT

Paperback

First published August 31, 2001

Reviews

[scriptedknight]

Really strong collection of essays up to the early 2000s (I cannot remember how I got this book).

Notes for myself: Chapter 15 addition with using AIDS as reasoning to bar immigrants from the US and language.

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly skimmed, but counting as read since I gave the book as a whole sustained attention. The individual essays are useful depending solely on your research topic as a historian, they're just as needle-specific as all other history essays in books like this. They're grouped together meaningfully though, so if you want to put in some effort, you can glean overall trends and possibilities in the field. There's also a good introduction and conclusion, not summing up the contents, but setting them in context and then offering questions at the end about what exactly is being done and where the field is going. I also liked running across essays specifically about bisexuality, not just totally subsuming it into lesbian and gay studies.