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A review by bookishmillennial
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
informative
reflective
fast-paced
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
I listened to the audiobook on LibroFM and it's read by the author, which did help me in understanding the content of the book, as it at times felt very academic and read as if I was reading an academic journal (which is not bad, it's just different than what I typically read). I recommend listening to the audiobook if that's accessible to you, just because the author narrated it well and I felt as if I was having a conversation or listening to a podcast, which was helpful for my own comprehension of the content.
Overall, I think I would re-read this again as an ebook so I could highlight and annotate because there were some parts that really stood out to me and made me think, "Oooooh I had not thought about that before!" Even though it is very informative and shares a lot of novel (to me) historical data (from early sexological texts, fugitive slave narratives, Afro-modernist literature, sensationalist journalism, Hollywood films, etc.), Snorton notes that this is not meant to be a comprehensive text. I highly recommend it though, as it brought up so much that I hadn't thought of before (due to my own privilege and biases in being non-Black and cisgender).
I listened to the audiobook on LibroFM and it's read by the author, which did help me in understanding the content of the book, as it at times felt very academic and read as if I was reading an academic journal (which is not bad, it's just different than what I typically read). I recommend listening to the audiobook if that's accessible to you, just because the author narrated it well and I felt as if I was having a conversation or listening to a podcast, which was helpful for my own comprehension of the content.
Overall, I think I would re-read this again as an ebook so I could highlight and annotate because there were some parts that really stood out to me and made me think, "Oooooh I had not thought about that before!" Even though it is very informative and shares a lot of novel (to me) historical data (from early sexological texts, fugitive slave narratives, Afro-modernist literature, sensationalist journalism, Hollywood films, etc.), Snorton notes that this is not meant to be a comprehensive text. I highly recommend it though, as it brought up so much that I hadn't thought of before (due to my own privilege and biases in being non-Black and cisgender).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Medical trauma, and Racism
Moderate: Suicide, Hate crime, Death, and Sexism