Reviews

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton

joghansah's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

ellie_egg's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

ari76's review

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Such an important topic AND too dense for me to get through.

bennificial's review

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challenging emotional informative slow-paced

3.0

I liked the content of the book but I found it to be a little too long and the writing was fairly inaccessible at times. 

clearlybones's review

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challenging informative reflective

4.25

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

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The writing style was too opaque and academic 

hannscurlock's review

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5.0

I learned so much from the book. Something that I will return to is Snorton’s implementation of fungibility through a Black trans* lens, and it’s coupling with fugitively.

ezismythical's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

govgregabbott's review

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4.0

heavy read, was hoping for more historical read rather than a collection of pieces framing both blackness and transness. still a solid read, would suggest it to anyone interested on the topic.

finnthehuman217's review against another edition

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4.0

This book took me a while to get through. I’m really good with theory but some academic work is inaccessible if you’re not up on the words. I did find the 3rd part fascinating. Especially when the author talked about the Christine Jorgensen doubles and how the black press vilified black trans women while Jorgensen was revered for her transition. It’s all very weird. I also liked the discussion of the erasure of black identity regarding the story of Phillip Devine and Brandon teena. Very insightful. One of the more gruesome chapters was that on the mothers of modern Gynecology.