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A review by archytas
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History by Hugh Ryan
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.