Play Book Tag discussion

The Stonewall Reader by THe New York Public Library
Paperback
4 Stars

Drawing from the New York Public Library's archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume to coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation movement of 1969.

First of all, this is a must read for anyone that is interested in understanding the history of the battle for LGBTQ rights in this country. The combination of perspectives and along with the period of time covered (pre-Stonewall, Stonewall, and post-Stonewall) makes the book an excellent primer on that portion of the fight to recognition. I particularly appreciated the different viewpoints on the Stonewall uprising that the book presented.

I must say though that reading a collection like this takes a certain mindset and preparedness. With each of the excerpts you are launched into the middle of a person's story which can be somewhat abrupt and hard to follow. If you are wanting a more complete account or more context around why an author wrote what they did, this book requires a good bit of follow-up.

Finally, it is important to understand that you are reading actual accounts from 50 years ago. The world, including the LGBTQ world, has changed greatly in the last 50 years. Sadly, there are some things that have not changed as much as they should. It is important though to realize that the terms used and the attitudes expressed were the reality of that time period. Some can seem offensive if read through today's lenses but they were simply the reality of that time. We should not devalue a historical book such as this because it does not match with our modern sensibilities.

Overall, this is an excellent collection and well worth the read.

Nice review! I haven't read it yet but it seems fun! I like the cover too! Maybe I should try to read it because it was worth reading. I'm gonna add it to my TBR list. Thanks for your review! Have a great day!

Great review, Jeremiah!

I'd love to read this, but I think it's an audible original, AKA not available to non-audible users. I've been wanting to find a contemporary LGBTIA YA novel set during the pre-to during Stonewall Riots time frame, but haven't seen anything come up. Fingers crossed.

Joi wrote: "I'd love to read this, but I think it's an audible original, AKA not available to non-audible users. I've been wanting to find a contemporary LGBTIA YA novel set during the pre-to during Stonewall ..."

I read it in paperback so I do not know anything about the audible.

Ooh, that's great to know, thanks!