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4.52 AVERAGE
4.52 AVERAGE
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
Did you know there was a women's prison, called the House of Detention in Greenwich Village until 1971, and it housed activists like Angela Davis and Afeni Shakur? It was only a few hundred feet from the Stonewall Inn and the prisoners, many of whom were queer, lesbian, and trans, participated when the riots started, shouting encouragement and setting their mattresses on fire in support? The history of this place, and its innumerable horrors, is fascinating and haunting.
A detailed and well researched account full of individual and collective stories of a forgotten history in NYC and the legacies of the House of D. Weaves together queer history, gay liberation, second wave feminism, Black liberation, & prison abolition in order to identify and untangle so many practices of "justice" in our carceral and legal systems. I learned a lot!
fascinating history
I really enjoyed this book! There was a lot of detail that really humanize the stories of the women who lived within the walls of the women’s house of detention, some of it, joyful, some of it horrific. I am really glad that I read this, even if at times, it was pretty intense! it has further solidified my desire to push back against the prison industrial complex.
I really enjoyed this book! There was a lot of detail that really humanize the stories of the women who lived within the walls of the women’s house of detention, some of it, joyful, some of it horrific. I am really glad that I read this, even if at times, it was pretty intense! it has further solidified my desire to push back against the prison industrial complex.
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Phenomenal book.
I loved that this book breathed life into people in the last 100 years that would otherwise have been forgotten and I learnt so much more about the carceral system and how it predominantly targets the people of colour, the poor and the queer.
Also, there is a comfort knowing that queer people have always existed since the dawn of time.
Yet another book that everyone should read!!
I loved that this book breathed life into people in the last 100 years that would otherwise have been forgotten and I learnt so much more about the carceral system and how it predominantly targets the people of colour, the poor and the queer.
Also, there is a comfort knowing that queer people have always existed since the dawn of time.
Yet another book that everyone should read!!
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I loved this book. Black queer people are the foundations of gay culture, and queer women and transmascs are a crucial component of it.
This book was incredibly well-written, deeply researched, and engaging. It was very informative and I felt this book filled large gaps in my knowledge about queer culture. As a trans man, I would have liked to know more about other transmascs kept at the House of D, but it’s possible that there aren’t any other records of them. I loved the way queer liberation was tied with the Black Panthers and how the incarcerated women were a large part of the Stonewall riots.
This book was incredibly well-written, deeply researched, and engaging. It was very informative and I felt this book filled large gaps in my knowledge about queer culture. As a trans man, I would have liked to know more about other transmascs kept at the House of D, but it’s possible that there aren’t any other records of them. I loved the way queer liberation was tied with the Black Panthers and how the incarcerated women were a large part of the Stonewall riots.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I really enjoyed reading this, though enjoy isn’t quite the right word given the subject. It quite nicely ties together the compounding conditions of class, race, gender, and queerness to weave a thorough history of the prison, despite only being able to highlight so many people’s experience. I think this is a good introduction for queer folks looking to get more into prison abolition, it touches on many factors that make prisons irredeemable. The structure kept me engaged throughout, but called back to certain details so often it got annoying/redundant a bit (love you big cliff but i don’t need to hear your name every time a butch being mistreated occurs).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Classism
It covers a lot of things worth content warnings but nothing was described too gratuitously.