March 1, 2019
A showcase of the work of activists and participants in the Stonewall uprising, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary.With his discerning selections, editor Baumann (editor: Love and Resistance: Out of the Closet into the Stonewall Era, 2019, etc.)--assistant director for collection development for the New York Public Library and coordinator of the library's LGBT Initiative--provides a street-level view of the Stonewall uprising, which helped launch the LGBTQ rights movement in the United States. Through his skillful curation, he offers a corrective for what is too often a sanitized, homogenous, and whitewashed portrayal of academics and professionals about the event sometimes termed "the hairpin drop heard around the world." By gathering vibrant and varied experiences of diverse contributors, the collection reflects the economic, gender, racial, and ethnic complexity of the LGBTQ community at a time when behaviors such as same-sex dancing were criminalized. Featuring essays, interviews, personal accounts, and news articles, Baumann's archival project accurately and meticulously captures an era of social unrest; the conversation about institutional discrimination and inequality presented here remains as revolutionary today as it did 50 years ago. The anthology invites us to look closely at the unresolved social dynamics of a population defined by its diversity, confronting sexism, racism, classism, and internalized homophobia alongside a broad view of institutional discrimination, heteronormativity, and sexual repression. Voices of significant leaders sit beside stories from participants behind protest lines, police raids, and street harassment, and the mounting frustration with an oppressive status quo becomes palpable on every page. The first-person narratives collected here effectively spotlight the social inequalities surrounding the LGBTQ community, many of which persist today.A bold rallying cry that should help in the continuing fight for LGBTQ rights. Read alongside Baumann's Love and Resistance and Marc Stein's The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History for a full education on the events before, during, and after Stonewall.
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Starred review from May 1, 2019
The New York Public Library (NYPL), with a foreword by Edmund White (A Boy's Own Story), compiles experiences of LGBTQ Americans. Divided into three sections, this curated collection brings the Stonewall uprising to life. White sets the stage, noting the cultural context for the narratives which follow, while NYPL's Jason Baumann contributes an introduction further explaining historical, geographical, and scholarly context. Beginning with "Before Stonewall," readers are treated to excerpts from movement organizers such as Audre Lorde, Christine Jorgensen, and Ernestine Eckstein. These pieces expand on what life was like for the LGBTQ community prior to the Stonewall rebellion. The collection then moves to "During Stonewall," in which selections describe the event from various perspectives, including that of journalist Dick Leitsch, activist Marsha P. Johnson, and journalist Howard Smith. Finally, "After Stonewall" provides a look at how things changed or did not change post-riots, with words from Rev. Troy D. Perry, author Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and New York's first lady Chirlane McCray. VERDICT As a whole, this masterful collection is perhaps one of the most exhaustive looks at the events surrounding Stonewall from the LGBTQ perspective and provides a wonderfully diverse cast of voices. Scholars will find plenty of quotable material.--Abby Hargreaves, Dist. of Columbia P.L.
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
April 1, 2019
Whether you call it a riot or an uprising, an event that took place on June 28, 1969, was seminal. That was the night when customers of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, fought back against a police raid, helping to usher in an age of LGBTQ liberation. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of Stonewall, editor Jason Baumann, assistant director for collection development and coordinator of humanities and LGBT collections at the New York Public Library, has combed the LGBTQ archives of the NYPL to offer this generous and eclectic assortment of writings about the historic event. The selection is divided into three sections: Before, During, and After Stonewall. The Before section, featuring writing by such well-known figures as authors John Rechy, Audre Lorde, and Samuel R. Delany, provides much-needed context. The During section, which offers detailed, first-person accounts of the night, will probably be of greatest interest to readers, though the third section, After, offers a mini-course in the history of the years immediately following Stonewall. This significant book does welcome justice to an event that author Edmund White, who wrote the foreword, says sparked an oceanic change in thinking. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)