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A review by scottiesandbooks
Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity by Robert Beachy
4.0
Well as hard as it was to read at times (very dry and found myself drifting off instead of actually paying attention to the book), it was definitely worth the read!
Robert Beachy provides an insightful and well researched of the history of homosexual Berlin pre world war 2. It’s funny how when we think of homosexual reform we always look to America (as with everything they think they did everything first). However, learning about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and how in the 1800s he stood up and addressed parliament about his sexuality and how anti- sodomy laws should be revoked and Magnus Hirschfeld who created a safe haven for all walks of LGBTQ life, creating an INSTITUTE for them early 1900s and spending his life trying to abolish paragraph 175 shows that the battle was going on long before the likes of Stonewall riots.
Such an important book, although I feel it could have been more easily written hence only 4 stars.
Robert Beachy provides an insightful and well researched of the history of homosexual Berlin pre world war 2. It’s funny how when we think of homosexual reform we always look to America (as with everything they think they did everything first). However, learning about Karl Heinrich Ulrichs and how in the 1800s he stood up and addressed parliament about his sexuality and how anti- sodomy laws should be revoked and Magnus Hirschfeld who created a safe haven for all walks of LGBTQ life, creating an INSTITUTE for them early 1900s and spending his life trying to abolish paragraph 175 shows that the battle was going on long before the likes of Stonewall riots.
Such an important book, although I feel it could have been more easily written hence only 4 stars.