A review by sbelasco40
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History by Hugh Ryan

4.0

I would say this is somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 for me. This had a great deal of interesting information, and the whole idea of Brooklyn having this early queer history that no one talks about is fascinating to me, but the organization of the book felt a little fragmented to me. It’s possible this is also related to me listening on audiobook, but I almost wanted it to be organized thematically rather than chronologically, tracing the evolution of different patterns within the queer community - a chapter on the scientific studies that were done, a chapter on queer living spaces, a chapter on literary queers, etc. Instead it was all kind of mixed up, which made it a bit harder for me to follow. Still: I like the idea of unearthing this early queer history in all kinds of places, because it’s true that we tend to hear more about the 60s and beyond. Also: Gypsy Rose Lee and Carson McCullers were friends??? To be a fly on that wall.