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A review by solly
Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
3.0
This was alright.
If you're doing research it's great, thoroughly researched, lots of details and points of view on the events. If you're researching around Stonewall, it's definitely a great read.
However, if you're someone just wanting to know more about the Stonewall Riots, I don't think you should pick this up. It's super dense and dry, difficult to read and remember the many people mentionned (I got through it okay because I had the physical copy AND the audiobook). Like, informative, but not a great time.
It still made me tear up a few times haha. It's a history book, so very much not written in an emotional way, but queer history has a unique way to make me emotional out of nowhere.
Also, it's very, very obviously written and researched by a white cis man. Wouldn't recommend it to trans readers especially, because it's full of "transgendered men" to refer to trans women, and it's pretty icky on all trans stuff. There was an attempt at inclusion at times, lol, but still lots of misgendering and deadnaming, erasure of well-known trans names of the movement (Marsha P. Jonhson is mentionned twice in passing, no mentions of Sylvia Rivera). There's a point of view of someone who is clearly a trans woman but who the author deadnames and misgenders until she's "dressed up" to go out to the Stonewall.
The author also contradicts himself in his conclusions. He makes it very clear through the book that trans women, gender non-conforming people, and lesbians were instrumental to the riots and still concludes that the movement was mostly white cis gays.
Anyway, it's probably a must if you're doing research around the subject, if you're just curious to know a little more about the riots without things like the geographical details, it's probably not the book for you.
If you're doing research it's great, thoroughly researched, lots of details and points of view on the events. If you're researching around Stonewall, it's definitely a great read.
However, if you're someone just wanting to know more about the Stonewall Riots, I don't think you should pick this up. It's super dense and dry, difficult to read and remember the many people mentionned (I got through it okay because I had the physical copy AND the audiobook). Like, informative, but not a great time.
It still made me tear up a few times haha. It's a history book, so very much not written in an emotional way, but queer history has a unique way to make me emotional out of nowhere.
Also, it's very, very obviously written and researched by a white cis man. Wouldn't recommend it to trans readers especially, because it's full of "transgendered men" to refer to trans women, and it's pretty icky on all trans stuff. There was an attempt at inclusion at times, lol, but still lots of misgendering and deadnaming, erasure of well-known trans names of the movement (Marsha P. Jonhson is mentionned twice in passing, no mentions of Sylvia Rivera). There's a point of view of someone who is clearly a trans woman but who the author deadnames and misgenders until she's "dressed up" to go out to the Stonewall.
The author also contradicts himself in his conclusions. He makes it very clear through the book that trans women, gender non-conforming people, and lesbians were instrumental to the riots and still concludes that the movement was mostly white cis gays.
Anyway, it's probably a must if you're doing research around the subject, if you're just curious to know a little more about the riots without things like the geographical details, it's probably not the book for you.