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mwgore's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent history of Brooklyn, the Navy Yard, Coney Island, and the queer community - how it flourished, struggled, and was persecuted.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
5.0
In this meticulously researched and engagingly written non-fiction monography, Ryan traces queer lives, experiences, and communities in Brooklyn from 1855 (the year Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass) until 1969. Ryan uses this focus to delve into a wide array of topics and themes, while always managing to hold all the threads together. He analyzes how ideas around gender and sexuality changed, writes about the architectural, social, and economic changes in Brooklyn, and gives a history of performing arts and literature in this time period. He portrays a wide array of individuals - some famous, others not. I found these more ordinary lives especially fascinating. Every page of this book is full of insights and interesting material. I appreciated Ryan's precise analyses, never trying to easily put people into boxes but rather describes their lives and contexts in detail, noting open questions or things we might never know, and also showing awareness of the contexts in which certain information was gathered (and why the wealth on material we have on groups of people varies). Going in, I was afraid this book might be overwhelming about white gay men (or what we might classify today as such) but this is not the case at all. Ryan is very much aware of gender, race, class, and makes a lot of effort to especially showcase the lives of those whose histories are rendered even more invisible than others. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
"In the minds of many, queer American history is a straight line forever shooting upward, a march of incremental progress, where decades of closeted anger finally explodes into public view on the first night of the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969. The truth is much more complicated. What we know of as being 'gay,' 'lesbian,' 'bisexual,' or 'transgender' didn't exist until the early twentieth century, but there was still a strong presence of men who loved men, women who loved women, and gender outlaws of all kinds."
"In the minds of many, queer American history is a straight line forever shooting upward, a march of incremental progress, where decades of closeted anger finally explodes into public view on the first night of the Stonewall Riots of June 28, 1969. The truth is much more complicated. What we know of as being 'gay,' 'lesbian,' 'bisexual,' or 'transgender' didn't exist until the early twentieth century, but there was still a strong presence of men who loved men, women who loved women, and gender outlaws of all kinds."
sbelasco40's review against another edition
4.0
I would say this is somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 for me. This had a great deal of interesting information, and the whole idea of Brooklyn having this early queer history that no one talks about is fascinating to me, but the organization of the book felt a little fragmented to me. It’s possible this is also related to me listening on audiobook, but I almost wanted it to be organized thematically rather than chronologically, tracing the evolution of different patterns within the queer community - a chapter on the scientific studies that were done, a chapter on queer living spaces, a chapter on literary queers, etc. Instead it was all kind of mixed up, which made it a bit harder for me to follow. Still: I like the idea of unearthing this early queer history in all kinds of places, because it’s true that we tend to hear more about the 60s and beyond. Also: Gypsy Rose Lee and Carson McCullers were friends??? To be a fly on that wall.
archytas's review against another edition
informative
reflective
3.75
Well-written, chronologically organised, history of Brooklyn's queer residents and community, starting with Walter Whitman and ending in the McCarthyite era. Ryan balances anecdotes - and like many pre 20th Century queer history, some parts there is little but isolated anecdotes - with analysis of how the docks and, once the Brooklyn Bridge is built, the easy connection to Manhatten combines to create queer spaces. The waterfront - home to sailors, sex workers, queer-friendly manual jobs, wartime jobs for women and the kind of anonymity that comes with casual labour - is a particular focus for Ryan as fuelling a gay and lesbian-friendly space.
At times, the book lost a little focus for me, being pulled into Ryan's fascination with poets, for example. And to some extent, this could be the story of any city - the broader focus is both a strength (in contextualising queer culture as shaped by and shaping of broader factors) and a weakness (this sometimes feels like the queerness of this particular city/borough is a tad overblown). But then, I am a NYC skeptic.
The afterword is wonderfully written, and unusually for me, made me a little sad that Ryan had so scrupulously kept himself out of the broader narrative.
At times, the book lost a little focus for me, being pulled into Ryan's fascination with poets, for example. And to some extent, this could be the story of any city - the broader focus is both a strength (in contextualising queer culture as shaped by and shaping of broader factors) and a weakness (this sometimes feels like the queerness of this particular city/borough is a tad overblown). But then, I am a NYC skeptic.
The afterword is wonderfully written, and unusually for me, made me a little sad that Ryan had so scrupulously kept himself out of the broader narrative.
keight's review against another edition
5.0
This has been a slow reading year for me, but for the most part I’ve been spending my decreased reading time with really good books, cutting out the ones I would have been pushing myself to finish or charging through disinterestedly. Quality over quantity is not a bad approach. If I were to make a top ten list at the end of this year, I may not have very many books to pick from, but When Brooklyn Was Queer would definitely be near the top. Read more on my booklog
persnickety_9's review against another edition
4.0
While the chapters got a bit long at times (making me wish I could give the book 4.5 stars), it was incredible material about a history I know nothing about. Overall a great read and one more people should get their hands on!