A Queer History of the United States (ReVisioning American History)
A sweeping history that rereads LGBTQ+ life in the United States from the colonial era to the present. It reframes people pushed to the margins of history by connecting their lives to political and cultural change.
Work Information
A sweeping history of the United States reorganized through a queer lens.
Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States is a landmark history that rereads American history through LGBTQ+ experience. Tracing law, migration, cultural representation, and activism, it shows how queer lives have helped shape the nation.
Review Summaries
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Its depth of documentation and broad scope are widely valued. At the same time, some readers note uneven emphasis in the people and regions it covers.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Beacon Press
- Published
- 2011-05-10
- Pages
- 312 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 16.15 x 2.72 x 23.55 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780807044391
- ISBN-10
- 0807044393
- Category
- 洋書/Politics & Social Sciences/Social Sciences/Specific Demographics/Gay & Lesbian
Winner of a 2012 Stonewall Book Award in nonfiction The first book to cover the entirety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from pre-1492 to the present. In the 1620s, Thomas Morton broke from Plymouth Colony and founded Merrymount, which celebrated same-sex desire, atheism, and interracial marriage. Transgender evangelist Jemima Wilkinson, in the early 1800s, changed her name to “Publick Universal Friend,” refused to use pronouns, fought for gender equality, and led her own congregation in upstate New York. In the mid-nineteenth century, internationally famous Shakespearean actor Charlotte Cushman led an openly lesbian life, including a well-publicized “female marriage.” And in the late 1920s, Augustus Granville Dill was fired by W. E. B. Du Bois from the NAACP’s magazine the Crisis after being arrested for a homosexual encounter. These are just a few moments of queer history that Michael Bronski highlights in this groundbreaking book. Intellectually dynamic and endlessly provocative, A Queer History of the United States is more than a “who’s who” of queer history: it is a book that radically challenges how we understand American history. Drawing upon primary documents, literature, and cultural histories, noted scholar and activist Michael Bronski charts the breadth of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from 1492 to the 1990s, and has written a testament to how the LGBT experience has profoundly shaped our country, culture, and history. A Queer History of the United States abounds with startling examples of unknown or often ignored aspects of American history—the ineffectiveness of sodomy laws in the colonies, the prevalence of cross-dressing women soldiers in the Civil War, the impact of new technologies on LGBT life in the nineteenth century, and how rock music and popular culture were, in large part, responsible for the devastating backlash against gay rights in the late 1970s. Most striking, Bronski documents how, over centuries, various incarnations of social purity movements have consistently attempted to regulate all sexuality, including fantasies, masturbation, and queer sex. Resisting these efforts, same-sex desire flourished and helped make America what it is today. At heart, A Queer History of the United States is simply about American history. It is a book that will matter both to LGBT people and heterosexuals. This engrossing and revelatory history will make readers appreciate just how queer America really is.
Michael Bronski is professor of practice in media and activism in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Program at Harvard University. He has written extensively on LGBT issues for four decades, in both mainstream and queer publications, and is the author of three other books and editor of several anthologies.
Reviews
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My copy arrived quickly, but water damaged. Sent it back and quickly received a fresh copy. Overall good experience. Thanks!
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A fascinating work that explores rarely or entirely unknown aspects of LGBTQIA+ history. What stands out most is that it doesn’t follow the popular and familiar narratives, but instead places events in a broader and more comprehensive context, offering an entirely new framework. It not only rethinks queer history and its development, but also reinterprets the historical and historiographical approach to this narrower slice of history. My heartfelt congratulations to the author — the immense amount of work invested is palpable! This has been one of my best investments so far. I sincerely and warmly recommend it to anyone interested in the topic.
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This is a very interesting and well written historical account of various gender designations and sexual orientations from the beginning of America as a group of colonies to some discussion of contemporary issues that continue to inform an important dimension of our society. The author argues that persons who were in some way different from the norm were particularly subject to being named as homosexual. The discussion is historical, political, sociological, and psychological. Sodomy laws in Britain were not adopted in colonial America at the outset of the country, perhaps because they were perceived as antithetical to Enlightenment principles. Recommended for serious students of history and gender studies. The book is very well done.
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Rarely have I read a book that makes me think so much. I have to read it with a highlighter and wish I had a photographic memory to retain it all. This book defies being read quickly. Like for "A People's History of the United States," this book makes me look back at history but through a different lens. Although I bought the book to look at Queer history, I didn't realize this books is really a history of sexual, gender differences, and "othering." Perhaps that's what queer history is, but I'm more familiar with gay history and have not encountered this wider view of all non heteronormative behavior before. While I thought it would be like other history books, recounting dates and facts, this book is far better in that it attempts to give the reasons behind the history. It forces you think bigger. I have a degree in Religious Studies, an interest in spirituality and social commentary. I found the information on Transcendentalism and the development of an American ethos very interesting. This is a book that I will reread many times. If I'm gushing it's because I haven't read a lot of gay/queer history so I don't have enough experience with it to compare it with other texts, as other reviewers here might.
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I've read a lot of history on LGBTs and still I learned quite a bit. The author starts at the earliest American history, and covers a lot of ground in the 17th century. Still, about half the book is from post WWII era to about 2000. He offers analysis as well, suggesting why things happened, what people's motivations were, in addition to just facts. Additionally, he quotes from ordinary people struggling with their sexuality throughout history, and those who either oppress or support the community. It covers most everything you would want to know without becoming tedious. Really a good read.