Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: Second Edition

By John D'Emilio

Book Overview

With thorough documentation of the oppression of homosexuals and biographical sketches of the lesbian and gay heroes who helped the contemporary gay culture to emerge, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities supplies the definitive analysis of the homophile movement in the U.S. from 1940 to 1970. John D'Emilio's new preface and afterword examine the conditions that shaped the book and the growth of gay and lesbian historical literature.

"How many students of American political culture know that during the McCarthy era more people lost their jobs for being alleged homosexuals than for being Communists? . . . These facts are part of the heretofore obscure history of homosexuality in America-a history that John D'Emilio thoroughly documents in this important book."-George DeStefano, Nation

"John D'Emilio provides homosexual political struggles with something that every movement requires-a sympathetic history rendered in a dispassionate voice."-New York Times Book Review

"A milestone in the history of the American gay movement."-Rudy Kikel, Boston Globe

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226142671
• ISBN13: 9780226142678
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Beginning of Gay History

Before this book, gay history simply did not exist. There were a few tomes about great historical figures who happened to be gay, and Jonathan Katz's landmark "Gay American History," but virtually nothing about the gay men and women after World War II who fought amazing hostility, made countless strategic errors, suffered profound personal losses, and still managed to organize a movement that changed the way we all view individual rights in a civil society. Even publishing the first edition in 1983 was an act of courage. Today gay history is a thriving discipline, and the story has been told countless times, often more engagingly. For general readers, I recommend John Loughery's "The Other Side of Silence" and Lilian Faderman's "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers." But for students and scholars, this is a model of historical research and an inspiration.

Evolution of Status

John D'emilio's book clearly make the point about the minority status of the homosexual in America. The start of the first organizations to promote a homosexual presents, with their naive belief that they would be excepted, to the more militant efforts in the early sixties. D'emilio has documented carefully the many events of importants that led up the the stonewall riot. Making it clear that the fight didn't begin at stonewall, but many years before. He talks in detail about the different organizations that started, and how they developed and changed as the struggle continued. D'emilio did his homework on this one without question. If you were ever curious about the events that started the gay revolution this is a must read.