This is an absolutely fantastic book full of history, photos, memories, thoughts and ideas for anyone to enjoy, but especially those of us that are standing on these giant's shoulders. Do not sleep on this one!

A well written, in depth narrative of six individuals from their early childhoods to Stonewall and further, and the movement of the sixties. The riots themselves are given their own spot in the book. Prior to reading this book, my knowledge of this period and the riots themselves was sorely lacking. Growing up in the UK, only snippets of information came our way, while a whole other fight was being fought over there. Visiting the Stonewall memorial 5 years ago made me realize that this knowledge is integral to learning how and why the LGBTQ community, and this book helped me learn a little more. Thank you.

Stonewall details the history of individuals involved in the stonewall riots. There were parts of this book I found especially engrossing. The detailed accounts of the daily lives of the people who were involved both directly and tangentially were well written and endearing. However the book was at times hard to follow. The storyline jumped around a bit and had moments that seemed to drag on instead of flowing into the next memoir. Overall, this was a good introduction to detailed history of the stonewall riots and lgbtq history, a topic not usually covered much in educational settings. Worth the read if for the information alone. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This update of Duberman's 1993 Stonewall is remarkable in scope and interesting in concept by its story told through the lives of six individuals. One gets a true sense of where the struggle for LGBT rights was leading up to the riots and beyond. By focusing on the lives of individuals, one meets the leaders in the various organizations that lead up to the days of rioting as well as the response after.
I was sorry to see the book ends with the first commemorative march in 1970. I believe that there would have been much more to say for the fight for LGBT rights in the aftermath of Stonewall.

Thank you to Net Galley and publisher for the Kindle version of this work.

This is such an important book. Especially in our current social and political environment. We need to remember our history when it comes to equal rights, remember how far we have come and how far we still need to go.

The book is well researched and reader friendly. I liked that it read as a narrative rather than just a description of facts.

A well-researched, solid account of not only the Stonewall Riots but of the entire '60s gay rights movement. I enjoyed the mixture of scholarly and narrative writing. The author wove a fascinating thread that connected the individual lives of several people into the overall movement before the riots. We then learn what role these people played in the riots, along with how this critical moment in LGBTQ+ history helped set things in motion for future legal gains and social acceptance.

Everyone who is LGBTQ+ should read this book to gain a better understanding of what the community had to go through to get us to a place in US history where an openly gay man is a viable presidential candidate. This book is also a great way for straight people to learn more about some of the many challenges that their LGBTQ+ friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc. have lived through.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of Stonewall. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Sold, thoroughly researched and freshly updated in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. A good read for anyone interested in LGBTQIA+ history, especially Stonewall.

Educational and informative look at an important and still relevant piece of history. The intimate stories were very revealing and shined light on issues I was not aware of.

“After the second night of rioting, it had become clear to many that a major upheaval, a kind of seismic shift, was at hand.”

I’d been wanting to brush up on the history of Stonewall (June 27, 1969) because I’d forgotten most of what I learned in school. In 1999, on the 30th anniversary of Stonewall, it had been my first time in New York City. I’d met up with an ex-boyfriend, who could be described as moderate to conservative. We were just wandering around the city with no plans when we stumbled on the gay pride parade AT THE INTERSECTION OF STONEWALL AND CHRISTOPHER STREET (which is where the riots took place). I knew the significance, at least part, but even conservative Scott had a great time at the parade.

So when I saw this book on NetGalley, I was thrilled. I got more than I bargained for. Part of this felt very academic and like I was back in grad school, but most of it was just very readable history that focuses on six different gay and lesbian activists including a black woman, three white men, a Latino transvestite, and a Jewish woman.

What I remembered most clearly from whatever gender studies class I took when I learned about Stonewall was that male police officers would shove their hands down women’s pants to be sure she was wearing “female appropriate” underwear. If a person with pudenda that marked them as having one sex on their birth certificate wasn’t wearing at least three pieces of “gender appropriate” clothing AS DEEMED BY NEW YORK LAW, he or she could be arrested. Can you imagine what a waste of a cops’ time to go around harassing gay people for being gay?

I didn’t realize that Stonewall was a dive bar run by mafia. Because in the sixties gay folks had no rights and could indeed be arrested, the mafia saw a way to make money and gay folks didn’t have alternatives because someone who was openly gay could be denied a loan. It’s still legal to discriminate against the LGBTQ community in 31 states. (!) So marriage is legal, but in many states you can be fired simply for your sexual orientation or that you identify differently than what your birth certificate says. Right now in Texas they are trying to pass legislation to allow it to be OK to deny homosexuals health care. (!)

I did know that lots of black women were slow to join to identify as feminist, partially because white feminists were concerned with middle class white women issues and weren’t immediately on board with the idea that feminism has to deal with race and class as well as gender. The Black Panthers were very male dominated, as were many of the emerging groups trying to get equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Men were used to dominating the discussion and talked over women who the males thought should be fetching coffee with their mouths firmly closed.

In that period of history, there was considerable disagreement among the gay community about whether or not it was important to look “respectable”—suits and ties for men and dresses for women—and what “queens’” place was in the revolution.

There had already been much activism before the nights of the Stonewall riots, which lasted basically two days and resulted in a fair amount of destruction of property and injured cops and severely injured (beaten up) activists. Obviously, in 1969, the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. Second wave feminism. MLK had been shot the year before. And, of course, what unified just about everyone on the left, the Vietnam war.

If you’re interested in history as it pertains to gender and civil rights, this is very well done. It was originally published in 1994 and updated to mark the 50th anniversary of the riots.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.