The Stonewall Reader

By: New York Public Library, Edmund White

Narrated by: full cast

"...a remarkable audio experience that emphasizes the revolutionary power of LGBTQ voices and provides an invaluable record of a community that refuses to be silenced." (AudioFile magazine Earphones Award winner)

For the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it, with a foreword by Edmund White.

June 28, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which is considered the most significant event in the gay liberation movement, and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Drawing from the New York Public Library's archives, The Stonewall Reader is a collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature, and articles from LGBTQ magazines and newspapers that documented both the years leading up to and the years following the riots. Most importantly, the anthology spotlights both iconic activists who were pivotal in the movement, such as Sylvia Rivera, co-founder of Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (STAR), as well as forgotten figures like Ernestine Eckstein, one of the few out, African American, lesbian activists in the 1960s.

The anthology focuses on the events of 1969, the five years before, and the five years after. Jason Baumann, the NYPL coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections, has edited and introduced the volume to coincide with the NYPL exhibition he has curated on the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation movement of 1969.

Includes a PDF of the list of stories and narrators, as well as permissions credits.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 New York Public Library, Edmund White (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“This window into the daily lives of activists and ordinary people fighting passionately against injustice is illuminating and inspiring.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Through his skillful curation, [editor Jason Baumann] offers a corrective for what is too often a sanitized, homogenous, and whitewashed portrayal of academics and professionals about the event sometimes termed 'the hairpin drop heard around the world.'... The first-person narratives collected here effectively spotlight the social inequalities surrounding the LGBTQ community, many of which persist today. A bold rallying cry that should help in the continuing fight for LGBTQ rights.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“This masterful collection is perhaps one of the most exhaustive looks at the events surrounding Stonewall from the LGBTQ perspective and provides a wonderfully diverse cast of voices.” (Library Journal)

Real stories

a truly diverse book. the gay history that many don't know. a must read for anyone interested.

Best 18 dollars ever spent.

This book was required for a class I’m currently taking. I am Stunned. It is so heart breaking and endearing at the same time. If you have no prior knowledge to any Queer history I recommend it 100%. In the audio book you get to hear the real interviews. A book has never made me sob this much, and feel so seen.

A good snapshot of LGBT history

I liked having different readers. Sometimes history can be dry but not this. A must for those born after the 80s. The violence and negativity piled on trans, gays and lesbians in America has been abhorrent. It was a wonder that the movement didn't happen sooner.

A must read to elighten all, Gay or Straight!

Loved it. The politics, the emotions, the true struggles of that time in history which has given birth to this place in time.