The Stonewall Reader The Stonewall Reader

The Stonewall Reader

Edited by The New York Public Library

    • 4.4 • 9 Ratings
    • $14.99
    • $14.99

Publisher Description

For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it, with a foreword by Edmund White.

Finalist for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, presented by The Publishing Triangle
Tor.com
, Best Books of 2019 (So Far)
Harper’s Bazaar, The 20 Best LGBTQ Books of 2019
The Advocate, The Best Queer(ish) Non-Fiction Tomes We Read in 2019


June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library's archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s. The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume to coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation movement of 1969.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
2019
April 30
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
336
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
5.7
MB

Customer Reviews

rokinrev ,

First person history

Experience the present as history [and] ourselves as history makers”
“The function of the homosexual is to make you uneasy”

Divided into three sections: Before,During and After Stonewall, this book condenses the time from the 50s to the 70s with primary source material found in the extant collection of The NYPL archives. From some of the first more quiet reports, to actual interviews with participants, to reporters’ records of the time it is, to me, a marvelous overview of a time historically overlapping my own struggles with Women's Lib and my own sexuality. The oldest pieces pre-Mattachine Society to the anger of the racial divide within all movements post Stonewall this Jason Baumann compilation should be read by anyone who relishes see history through those who made it.

This is a truly wonderful book...a historical sociology...a memoir...containing first person accounts of activists in what is now known as the LGBTQIA+ community but in the 40s and 50s know as “sick”. I was born in the 50s in New England, and spent part of my summers on Cape Cod, so I did see “gay people” even if I never met one. When Stonewall happened, it barely blipped in Rhode Island. There was more focus on the Black Power Movement. And when I finally first saw The Stonewall, it was boarded up, as was my own life. I learned a lot about the role of Stonewall in both this book and “Liberation and Resistance”, both edited for the New York Public Library by Jason Baumann.

Highly recommended 5/5

More Books Like This

Making Gay History Making Gay History
2009
Making History Making History
2018
Nobody Passes Nobody Passes
2010
The Gay Metropolis The Gay Metropolis
2007
Good As You Good As You
2017
We Wear the Mask We Wear the Mask
2017

More Books by New York Public Library & Jason Baumann

Nicholas II: The Romanov Coronation Albums Nicholas II: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013
Catherine II: The Romanov Coronation Albums Catherine II: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013
Alexander III: The Romanov Coronation Albums Alexander III: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013
Elizabeth: The Romanov Coronation Albums Elizabeth: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013
Nicholas I: The Romanov Coronation Albums Nicholas I: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013
Alexander II: The Romanov Coronation Albums Alexander II: The Romanov Coronation Albums
2013

Customers Also Bought

When Brooklyn Was Queer When Brooklyn Was Queer
2019
Stonewall Stonewall
2010
Stonewall Stonewall
1993
Making Gay History Making Gay History
2009
Gay Like Me Gay Like Me
2020
Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights
2015