Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
The multiple perspectives of the major event was great but what I enjoyed most was the various voices of the movement. A great place to learn about the movers and shakers of the movement.
informative
reflective
This is a must-read for anyone. This should be a required U.S. history text. I learned so much. The audiobook has original oral interviews and great readers.
What a wonderful and educational book. It furthered my knowledge and importance of Stonewall. My full review is up on my blog at https://readingstewardess.wordpress.com/2019/06/28/the-stonewall-reader-review/
informative
slow-paced
I've always wanted to know more about the Stonewall riots and this was an interesting book to read – I got a better idea of the events that happened during the riots and gained some knowledge about the events and groups that were significant in the 1950s to 1970s in the US. It gave me a good sense of LGBTQ+ authors I may want to read more of in the future, and I got to read many different perspectives from people involved with the movements discussed in the book.
That said, I don't think this is the book to read if you're new to LGBTQ+ history/communities as it contains lots of terms and ideas that aren't accepted today and that would be better to read with some more context. The editors don't provide anything but a small bio of the author of the piece (or the person being interviewed), so it's good to go into the book with some knowledge of dialog in LGBTQ+ communities so you can evaluate the pieces yourself and not accept them as universal experiences and as fact.
That said, I don't think this is the book to read if you're new to LGBTQ+ history/communities as it contains lots of terms and ideas that aren't accepted today and that would be better to read with some more context. The editors don't provide anything but a small bio of the author of the piece (or the person being interviewed), so it's good to go into the book with some knowledge of dialog in LGBTQ+ communities so you can evaluate the pieces yourself and not accept them as universal experiences and as fact.
When I was at school, I loved history as a subject. The orderly progression of dates and facts pointed to a linear and well-oiled world that moved forward smoothly and confidently. It was only much later in university that I began to be equipped intellectually to even to begin to question the tacit assumptions underlying the most basic tenets of historical fact.
Dates are important because they act as markers of important events; the biggest problem is that these events subsequently become unmoored from their historical context, and assume a life and significance all of their own – and frequently totally out of proportion to the event itself. One of these dates is 28 June 1969. The event: the Stonewall Riots.
What amazed me about this anthology from The New York Library is how extensive its collection is. A lot of the material is interview recordings, many transcribed here for the very first time. And the people given voice to, by and large, are the ordinary citizens either caught up directly in the event itself, or caught up on its margins.
This adds an extraordinary immediacy and life to the event that no matter-of-fact historical account can ever hope to achieve. Long portrayed as the true beginning of gay liberation, the people on the firing line at Stonewall were some of gay culture’s most marginalised figures, such as drag queens and hustlers. People who, literally, had nothing to lose.
This at a time when invisibility was a much sought-after goal of gay assimilation. Many gays at the time were horrified that the Stonewall rioters had dared sullied their good name, thereby threatening their reputations and, most likely, livelihoods.
Given all that has been written and recorded about Stonewall, a lot of its fundamental details have been so enshrouded in mythic significance or cultural reification as to have been, weirdly enough, become unstuck in time, like the narrator in Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Who threw the first object, and what was it exactly? What is the precise definition of a ‘riot’, and can Stonewall even be called that if it went on for several nights? Exactly how many people were involved? How many were hurt or affected? Why did the queens throw pennies at the police?
[This anthology is at pains to point out that Stonewall was by no means the first gay uprising of its kind; it is just the one that History has afforded that iconic status to].
What this admirable anthology demonstrates so clearly is that the truest form of history is a chorus of voices. Not an echo necessarily, but an interweaving of multiple strands of experience. Here the precise facts themselves do not matter so much, in the end.
This anthology is the closest that one can get to the mindset of Stonewall itself, I think, both before and after the event. It also shines a rather uncomfortable spotlight on the current state of gay politics, which is still struggling to articulate its truest form of historical significance.
Dates are important because they act as markers of important events; the biggest problem is that these events subsequently become unmoored from their historical context, and assume a life and significance all of their own – and frequently totally out of proportion to the event itself. One of these dates is 28 June 1969. The event: the Stonewall Riots.
What amazed me about this anthology from The New York Library is how extensive its collection is. A lot of the material is interview recordings, many transcribed here for the very first time. And the people given voice to, by and large, are the ordinary citizens either caught up directly in the event itself, or caught up on its margins.
This adds an extraordinary immediacy and life to the event that no matter-of-fact historical account can ever hope to achieve. Long portrayed as the true beginning of gay liberation, the people on the firing line at Stonewall were some of gay culture’s most marginalised figures, such as drag queens and hustlers. People who, literally, had nothing to lose.
This at a time when invisibility was a much sought-after goal of gay assimilation. Many gays at the time were horrified that the Stonewall rioters had dared sullied their good name, thereby threatening their reputations and, most likely, livelihoods.
Given all that has been written and recorded about Stonewall, a lot of its fundamental details have been so enshrouded in mythic significance or cultural reification as to have been, weirdly enough, become unstuck in time, like the narrator in Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Who threw the first object, and what was it exactly? What is the precise definition of a ‘riot’, and can Stonewall even be called that if it went on for several nights? Exactly how many people were involved? How many were hurt or affected? Why did the queens throw pennies at the police?
[This anthology is at pains to point out that Stonewall was by no means the first gay uprising of its kind; it is just the one that History has afforded that iconic status to].
What this admirable anthology demonstrates so clearly is that the truest form of history is a chorus of voices. Not an echo necessarily, but an interweaving of multiple strands of experience. Here the precise facts themselves do not matter so much, in the end.
This anthology is the closest that one can get to the mindset of Stonewall itself, I think, both before and after the event. It also shines a rather uncomfortable spotlight on the current state of gay politics, which is still struggling to articulate its truest form of historical significance.
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
This collection of firsthand accounts of Stonewall- before, during, and after - felt thorough and carefully crafted. I got the sense in reading the selected pieces that the editors really wanted to be historically accurate and include as many perspectives as possible. I did, however, think it was heavy on the voices of gay men, although that could be a result of the era in which most of these firsthand accounts were collected. I also really struggled with the racist and sexist language, but again, these were people's own words. However repulsive some of it might be for me, this was clearly how people spoke in the mid-twentieth century. (I was born in the 80s and I still found it pretty jarring). I'm not talking about taking back homophobic slurs, I mean causal use of slurs.
I initially rated the book 4 stars, but ultimately decided against a rating because it is an anthology. I think the editors' work was solid. To me the collection shows the disparities between the accounts of what happened among people who were there, and it helps to make sense of why there has always seemed to be conflicting stories about who played what role, and what the exact spark was that started the uprising. I came away with the sense that ultimately, even if we never know those answers for certain, it feels clear that women, people of color, and members of the trans community played a huge role in the riots and the Gay Liberation movement that followed. I felt the Stonewall Reader honored that.
I initially rated the book 4 stars, but ultimately decided against a rating because it is an anthology. I think the editors' work was solid. To me the collection shows the disparities between the accounts of what happened among people who were there, and it helps to make sense of why there has always seemed to be conflicting stories about who played what role, and what the exact spark was that started the uprising. I came away with the sense that ultimately, even if we never know those answers for certain, it feels clear that women, people of color, and members of the trans community played a huge role in the riots and the Gay Liberation movement that followed. I felt the Stonewall Reader honored that.
I’m glad I read Martin Duberman first for the historical context, but it’s hard to beat this oral history of Stonewall, or rather an anthology of first-hand accounts in a chorus of different voices.
There are standouts amongst them— Judy Grahn, Mark Segal, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Rev. Perry, Jeanne Córdova, Joel Hall. I highlighted half of the Martha Shelley essay. And I will say that Marcia P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Karla Jay, and Craig Rodwell all get a better platform in Duberman’s book, but the key is the chorus, and the varying viewpoints that try to both cut through the myth and ensure that what happened doesn’t get lost to history.
Great book. Extra poignant reading this on June 28, 2020, while various Pride marchers and protesters clash with the NYPD.
There are standouts amongst them— Judy Grahn, Mark Segal, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Rev. Perry, Jeanne Córdova, Joel Hall. I highlighted half of the Martha Shelley essay. And I will say that Marcia P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Karla Jay, and Craig Rodwell all get a better platform in Duberman’s book, but the key is the chorus, and the varying viewpoints that try to both cut through the myth and ensure that what happened doesn’t get lost to history.
Great book. Extra poignant reading this on June 28, 2020, while various Pride marchers and protesters clash with the NYPD.
The riot was about the police doing what they constantly did: indiscriminately harassing us. The police represented every institution of America that night: religion, media, medical, legal, and even our families, most of whom had been keeping us in our place. We were tired of it. And as far as we knew, Judy Garland had nothing to do with it. (Mark Segal)
This book is a treasure trove of primary source documents before, at, and after Stonewall. The voices are eclectic and diverse, and I learned so much reading this. All of us who care about any movement should be familiar with this history, as it can teach us so much about both how to build a movement *and* how tensions within that movement will arise, in addition to its own particular LGBTQ+ history (which we should also all learn about). I listened to it, and the audiobook is wonderful, narrated by a wide-ranging set of the authors themselves and professional performers (in cases when, for example, the author is no longer living). It's really a must read for everyone.