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roclarenett's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
late_stranger's review against another edition
4.0
This was the last book I started in 2019! It's a reasonably dense non-fiction book that truly does not lend itself to marathon reading but it was absolutely amazing to work through slowly. The depth of the history contained here is incredible, even through the clouded lens of the pre-Nazi past (so much documentation was destroyed) and the slight distraction of sometimes problematic authorial voice (I would have made different calls about how to discuss most of the trans folks mentioned in this book. While I understand and respect the reticence to use anachronistic terms and am totally on board with discussing and using contemporary terms like Hirshfeld's "total-transvestite" I don't think it's appropriate to refer to people who described their experiences with shockingly modern-sounding language and sought out the first ever gender confirming surgeries with the pronouns assigned to them at birth).
I was especially intrigued by the deep roots (or rather, repeated historical appearances) of various phenomena I thought of as uniquely modern such as right wing/ nationalist gays, complicated non-antagonistic relationships with police on the part of institutions, and a wellspring of public interest whenever information is made available. The lost world that our queer ancestors built was a whole place, and I do feel like I got glimpses into it.
I was especially intrigued by the deep roots (or rather, repeated historical appearances) of various phenomena I thought of as uniquely modern such as right wing/ nationalist gays, complicated non-antagonistic relationships with police on the part of institutions, and a wellspring of public interest whenever information is made available. The lost world that our queer ancestors built was a whole place, and I do feel like I got glimpses into it.
lw28's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism, Rape, and Pedophilia
maggil's review against another edition
5.0
The two months it took me to finish this excellent book had nothing to do with its quality and everything to do with life getting in the way.
Beachy's book taught me so much about a pivotal time in LGBT history. Much of what I've previously read focuses on New York's Stonewall riots as the birth of the modern gay rights movement but, clearly that's not the case. This book conveys more than a half century of history (1880's-1930's) that predates 1969 and opened my eyes to the struggles of so many men who fought for the legal representation in the same ways that I have. I look forward to reading more about this time, especially, Marti Lybeck's book which focuses on women in the same period as Gay Berlin.
Beachy's book taught me so much about a pivotal time in LGBT history. Much of what I've previously read focuses on New York's Stonewall riots as the birth of the modern gay rights movement but, clearly that's not the case. This book conveys more than a half century of history (1880's-1930's) that predates 1969 and opened my eyes to the struggles of so many men who fought for the legal representation in the same ways that I have. I look forward to reading more about this time, especially, Marti Lybeck's book which focuses on women in the same period as Gay Berlin.
austindoherty's review against another edition
4.0
My brother asked me, "Did you see TRANSPARENT this season? The segments set in the past, Jill Soloway only referenced this book." And he handed me GAY BERLIN.
If that's true, it's a curious choice for a show about the intersection of trans-, Jewish, and wealthy white Angeleno experience. Robert Reachy makes no bones about focusing only on men who love men, referring anyone interested in women loving women to another book in his introduction. But his limited scope yields dividends. He writes detailed, specific, supported synthesis in favor of his argument: we owe our understanding of gay people today to modern, pre-War Germany.
I found his argument convincing, and for an academic work, it's not too dry. Reachy makes quite expansive arguments for each of his narrow theses, separated across eight chapters. While Magnus Hirschfeld and his advocacy - as well as support for the burgeoning field of sexuality- at the Institute for Sexual Science informs the scenes of TRANSPARENT my brother had talked about, Beachy writes about Berlin from the 1860s until the 1930s with rich, sometimes cinematic detail. The second chapter covers how police, by tolerating gay activity, in fact defined it. Their dedicated team, the Department of Homosexuality and Blackmail, basically demands a pay-cable adaptation. (My preference would be HBO, but if it's goods you're after, maybe root Showtime.) Chapter five covers the work of Hans Bluher, whose gay activism dovetailed with his anti-Semitism, and requires little imagination to recall German youth in the bucolic countryside singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
Suicide haunts the book, as key actors are outed or ruined or caught in scandal. So too does Germany under Hitler loom over all of the developments, each success in recognition and human rights written in sand before the rising wave of what we know is coming. Beachy's documentation is rich even as images of burning records close out his narrative. It's at once a valuable road map of how we got here today, and a tad cautionary, too. With each boom comes a bust. There's no limitation to unmaking progress.
If that's true, it's a curious choice for a show about the intersection of trans-, Jewish, and wealthy white Angeleno experience. Robert Reachy makes no bones about focusing only on men who love men, referring anyone interested in women loving women to another book in his introduction. But his limited scope yields dividends. He writes detailed, specific, supported synthesis in favor of his argument: we owe our understanding of gay people today to modern, pre-War Germany.
I found his argument convincing, and for an academic work, it's not too dry. Reachy makes quite expansive arguments for each of his narrow theses, separated across eight chapters. While Magnus Hirschfeld and his advocacy - as well as support for the burgeoning field of sexuality- at the Institute for Sexual Science informs the scenes of TRANSPARENT my brother had talked about, Beachy writes about Berlin from the 1860s until the 1930s with rich, sometimes cinematic detail. The second chapter covers how police, by tolerating gay activity, in fact defined it. Their dedicated team, the Department of Homosexuality and Blackmail, basically demands a pay-cable adaptation. (My preference would be HBO, but if it's goods you're after, maybe root Showtime.) Chapter five covers the work of Hans Bluher, whose gay activism dovetailed with his anti-Semitism, and requires little imagination to recall German youth in the bucolic countryside singing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
Suicide haunts the book, as key actors are outed or ruined or caught in scandal. So too does Germany under Hitler loom over all of the developments, each success in recognition and human rights written in sand before the rising wave of what we know is coming. Beachy's documentation is rich even as images of burning records close out his narrative. It's at once a valuable road map of how we got here today, and a tad cautionary, too. With each boom comes a bust. There's no limitation to unmaking progress.
sdbecque's review against another edition
3.0
So if you are the kind of person who enjoyed [b:Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940|108295|Gay New York Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940|George Chauncey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348475327s/108295.jpg|1172180] then this book might be for you. I really enjoyed Chauncey's book on Gay New York during a time period one doesn't normally think about gay life during. But I think some of that enjoyment came from a familiarity with American geography and culture. I found "Gay Berlin" challenging because of my lack of knowledge of Germany and German culture. To be fair I think German culture is often collapsed under the weight of World War Two, and I found this to be a really interesting look at German culture pre-Hitler. Still it was slow going reading wise, but interesting in a very dry sort of way.
scottiesandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Well as hard as it was to read at times (very dry and found myself drifting off instead of actually paying attention to the book), it was definitely worth the read!
Robert Beachy provides an insightful and well researched of the history of homosexual Berlin pre world war 2. It’s funny how when we think of homosexual reform we always look to America (as with everything they think they did everything first). However, learning about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and how in the 1800s he stood up and addressed parliament about his sexuality and how anti- sodomy laws should be revoked and Magnus Hirschfeld who created a safe haven for all walks of LGBTQ life, creating an INSTITUTE for them early 1900s and spending his life trying to abolish paragraph 175 shows that the battle was going on long before the likes of Stonewall riots.
Such an important book, although I feel it could have been more easily written hence only 4 stars.
Robert Beachy provides an insightful and well researched of the history of homosexual Berlin pre world war 2. It’s funny how when we think of homosexual reform we always look to America (as with everything they think they did everything first). However, learning about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and how in the 1800s he stood up and addressed parliament about his sexuality and how anti- sodomy laws should be revoked and Magnus Hirschfeld who created a safe haven for all walks of LGBTQ life, creating an INSTITUTE for them early 1900s and spending his life trying to abolish paragraph 175 shows that the battle was going on long before the likes of Stonewall riots.
Such an important book, although I feel it could have been more easily written hence only 4 stars.