I got this softcover at Barnes and Noble, for another release copy.

An interesting way to present the background of a pivotal event: the book takes half a dozen people - gay, lesbian, transvestite, liberal, conservative, radical - who were involved, more or less, with the actual events of Stonewall, and gives us their personal histories by way of illustrating what GLBT people had to face in the '40s-'50s-'60s. After illustrating what brought them to New York in 1969, the book breaks down the events of the riots as best it can - conflicting accounts and unwilling witnesses always make that kind of thing tricky, and of course in those days there were no instant videos on the internet! Along the way, these individuals cross paths with folk like Abbie Hoffman and Harvey Milk, who'd earn their own kinds of fame later on. There is a bit more description of the political machinations behind the scenes that I was quite interested in - I don't just mean government politics, but the politics of the different gay organizations, some of which wound up opposing each other quite strongly. But I did find it interesting to see how long and hard many people had been working long before Stonewall to try and gain civil rights for gay people; the colorful drag-queens-fighting-back scenario is much more dramatic than the image of lots of serious, hard-working folk shuffling papers and holding meetings, but the one might have had little effect without the other...

This edition includes a new introduction by the author.

I left this book in the Little Free Library beside City Hall on this beautiful day, after visiting the Farmers Market on Main Street. Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2019 Pride LGBTQ release challenge. ***