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A review by justinlife
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.25
This book wasn’t what I expected nor was it what I wanted but it was still a good read. I was expecting and wanting a history of queer people/communities in the US. This was US history but make it gay.
It was fascinating though. Bronski does an excellent job showing the transformation of queer being something you did into something you were. In the later half of the book he does a great job showing how the queer movement has roots in the labor movement and how feminist thinking can be traced to early lesbian magazines.
It’s a bit frustrating because there’s so much that he leaves out. So many things I wanted to explore wasn’t there- the influence of immigration on queer communities and thought, trans identity and that evolution, literally anything after 1990. While he does mention some black queer people they are few and far between. Intersectionality isn’t really his thing, though he point out how racist US is over and over again. The POV felt very white and mostly male.
I’m sure a lot of that is due to history. Maybe trans history is harder to include b/c they were good at hiding. Maybe there’s just not enough information to make solid conclusions from some of the older communities I was interested in. There were other times when he makes conclusions and my immediate thought was “what’s the source on that”.
Overall I did like it and would te comes to people looking to see history from a queer POV.
It was fascinating though. Bronski does an excellent job showing the transformation of queer being something you did into something you were. In the later half of the book he does a great job showing how the queer movement has roots in the labor movement and how feminist thinking can be traced to early lesbian magazines.
It’s a bit frustrating because there’s so much that he leaves out. So many things I wanted to explore wasn’t there- the influence of immigration on queer communities and thought, trans identity and that evolution, literally anything after 1990. While he does mention some black queer people they are few and far between. Intersectionality isn’t really his thing, though he point out how racist US is over and over again. The POV felt very white and mostly male.
I’m sure a lot of that is due to history. Maybe trans history is harder to include b/c they were good at hiding. Maybe there’s just not enough information to make solid conclusions from some of the older communities I was interested in. There were other times when he makes conclusions and my immediate thought was “what’s the source on that”.
Overall I did like it and would te comes to people looking to see history from a queer POV.