Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
The only study of gay male history covering the United States since World War I. Based on hundreds of interviews, new and classic texts, and little-known archival sources, an award-winning writer offers the first narrative history to consider signal moments, general trs, and the multiple meanings of "gay identity" in the whole United States from World War I to the AIDS era and "queer" activism. The most readable, authoritative, and comprehensive investigation ever, The Other Side of Silence combines history and anecdote, politics and theory to reveal the personalities and textures of a largely unknown culture. A dramatic chronicle of seventy-five years of persecution and accomplishment, the book addresses both in equal detail: witch hunts in schools and the military, crusades of psychiatrists, the resistance long before Stonewall, the inspiring pioneers and activists. From Newport and the private-party networks of Nebraska and Florida's Emma Jones Society to gay rodeos, athletes, and support groups, here are first-hand accounts of what it has meant (and might mean in the future) to be a sexual outsider in the United States.… (more)
User reviews
The book was written in the 1990s, and Loughery's final reflections strongly reflect that, but I appreciate how strongly that position comes through rather than being buried or misleading and thus making the book less useful for modern readers. With that clarity, The Other Side of Silence remains vital basic reading for anyone interested in gay/queer history or how the American situation became what it is today.