A review by blnktdnstrs
Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II by Allan Bérubé

5.0

This book has it all - and it's also very accessible, so you can learn a lot without already being a military buff. The first chapters are about all the measures in place to catch queer people joining the military to begin with, and then there's a significant amount of time devoted to the social climate of the military. Towards the end there are segments on queer life at the front/past basic, and then the end of the book takes a look at queer veterans and postwar life. An amazing amount of primary source data, particularly from interviews that are incredibly touching. And because of the availability of historical sources, the book focuses mostly on white gay men, but there are clear attempts to widen the scope (and a more detailed explanation in the notes at the end of the book). Well worth a read!