A Queer History of the United States

By: Michael Bronski

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of a 2012 Stonewall Book Award in nonfiction

The first book to cover the entirety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from pre-1492 to the present.

In the 1620s, Thomas Morton broke from Plymouth Colony and founded Merrymount, which celebrated same-sex desire, atheism, and interracial marriage. Transgender evangelist Jemima Wilkinson, in the early 1800s, changed her name to “Publick Universal Friend”, refused to use pronouns, fought for gender equality, and led her own congregation in upstate New York. In the mid-19th century, internationally famous Shakespearean actor Charlotte Cushman led an openly lesbian life, including a well-publicized “female marriage.” And in the late 1920s, Augustus Granville Dill was fired by W. E. B. Du Bois from the NAACP’s magazine the Crisis after being arrested for a homosexual encounter. These are just a few moments of queer history that Michael Bronski highlights in this groundbreaking book.

Intellectually dynamic and endlessly provocative, A Queer History of the United States is more than a “who’s who” of queer history: it is a book that radically challenges how we understand American history. Drawing upon primary documents, literature, and cultural histories, noted scholar and activist Michael Bronski charts the breadth of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from 1492 to the 1990s, and has written a testament to how the LGBT experience has profoundly shaped our country, culture, and history.

A Queer History of the United States abounds with startling examples of unknown or often ignored aspects of American history - the ineffectiveness of sodomy laws in the colonies, the prevalence of cross-dressing women soldiers in the Civil War, the impact of new technologies on LGBT life in the 19th century, and how rock music and popular culture were, in large part, responsible for the devastating backlash against gay rights in the late 1970s. Most striking, Bronski documents how, over centuries, various incarnations of social purity movements have consistently attempted to regulate all sexuality, including fantasies, masturbation, and queer sex. Resisting these efforts, same-sex desire flourished and helped make America what it is today.

At heart, A Queer History of the United States is simply about American history. It is a book that will matter both to LGBT people and heterosexuals. This engrossing and revelatory history will make listeners appreciate just how queer America really is.

©2011 Michael Bronski (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The first book to cover all of LGBT history from 1492 through the present is Michael Bronski's A Queer History of the United States (Beacon Press). It is wonderfully readable and looks at the way we understand the history of the United States. The LGBT population moves from the margins to the mainstream and we see that the history of this country also is our history.” (Windy City Times)

“Bronski's book provides an excellent overview for readers new to the field of gay history. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries...” (CHOICE Magazine)

“...A succinct distillation of the history of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders in America… Bronski’s impeccable research bolsters his arguments… a useful handbook for LGBT activist groups and other interested members of the gay community.” (Boston Globe)

Very insightful!

I enjoyed this book as it gives a much more in depth history of queerness than I have found anywhere else

Am intriguing and important history of the U.S.

honestly, this was a great title. There were definitely some issues that I had with some of the language being outdated, but I also have to remember that this book came out 10 years ago, and much of the language in the LGBTQ community has changed since then.

Keeping that in mind, this is one of the more informative and interesting looks at the history of the United States of America through the lens of its LGBTQ population, which has been and always will be there. I would highly recommend this to anyone, especially those who feel that there's no history for queer individuals. This book nicely lays out how vital the LGBTQ community has been to the formation of this country.

Thought Provoking

This book was consistently interesting and thought-provoking. I found the epilogue to be particularly well written and challenging. In it, Bronski makes persuasive arguments, drawing on and giving new life to the elements from the history he had introduced in the body of the book. I was, honestly, surprised by some of his arguments. He caught me leaning toward simpler, cliched ways of thinking about our moment in history. I might end up clinging to some of my simpler thoughts about lgbt assimilation, but I enjoyed and cannot easily dismiss his way of framing queer history. The reader is talented, but I found the performance distracting (to me, some aspects of the performance seemed mismatched to the content).

Even better than I expected

At first I thought I might never actually get through this much book, but it actually went by quick due to the compelling content and skillful reading. We're here, we're queer... oh, you know the rest.

The history lesson I didn’t know I needed

As a social worker and social science researcher, this book had me enthralled and often in disbelief. Of note, I read it for fun- and I am unbelievably glad I did.

The level of detail and research, and the intentionally inclusive notes and language used was touching and memorable. I’m literally about to read it again, and will likely buy a copy just to be able to write notes and look into some of the references more deeply - not only for my professional and academic knowledge, but also to better understand my country and my place in it as a queer trans adult.

Thanks to this book I am now chock full of fact based historical information, more US history knowledge than I’ve ever possessed, and a burning fiery rage about the erasure of my community throughout history. Thank you.

An Important book that I wish I had read sooner.

Insightful and complex narrative told with clarity and grace. The chapters are well-constructed and encyclopedic in discussing the many historic figures whose actions informed the evolving progress of the movement. It widened the understanding of American history

wow.

so, I got this book in order to not bombarded my uncle who lived through the major movements in the 80s and honestly. I can understand why he didn't want to discuss it often with me. this gives a wonderful narrative to the history of the lgbtq+ individuals. I will be recommending this to anyone wanting to learn more about what people of the lgbtq community has had to fight for. and we still have alot to fight for. it hasn't ended until we are completely equal everywhere in the country.

Informative but not riveting

I got a lot of good information from this audiobook. It was a tad bit more academic than I was hoping for, though. I would have retained more of the information if he had spent more time weaving stories and diving deeper into descriptions of the historical figures.

👁🏳️‍🌈👁

Thorough, touching, sensitive, inclusive, careful, intelligent, patient, introspective, and still so many will never listen, never learn.

Extremely well written

This book gives some great in-depth details on lgbtq+ history in the US. there were so many things I learned and have a new appreciation of.