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

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced
Very challenging read, but necessarily so given the weight of the topics discussed and the resistance to historical flattening of Black lives, especially Black trans lives. Almost every chapter was a wonderfully deep reservoir of scholarly tools and new lenses on old history that were very helpful for me thinking through how different bodies have been treated as fungible and fluid by force and how others have taken that condition and used it to express novel ways of living that are still future-facing today. For all of the author's many references (the book also served as one of the most robust citation and reading list I've ever encountered), I'm surprised there wasn't more of a reference to Puar, especially in the chapter on Christine Jorgensen. It's incredibly interesting to think how a single white model trans woman can be used to overshadow the lives of Black trans women, and I think this analysis would really complement understandings of homonationalism across the world. Much to think about!
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