An excellent recapturing of a section of NY queer history that is largely forgotten or glossed over. While some stories, particularly those of white men who were artists or authors, are more known, Ryan does a good job capturing some stories of lesser known figures. I really appreciated learning about the changes in culture as well as perceptions of sexuality/gender throughout the years. Also, the information about the upsetting decline of vibrant Brooklyn queer life after WWII was brilliantly explained and made me so angry. Nonetheless, I’m grateful to leave the book having a long list of people who I want to read more about. I feel like that in itself is a gift. ( )

I RECEIVED AN ARC OF THIS BOOK FROM ST. MARTIN'S PRESS. THANK YOU.

One of my very favorite possessions is this hardcover copy I received after the Déluge of 2019 ruined my ARC. The author tells us from the start that I use the catchall queer...to refer to people whose sexuality or gender identity isn’t conventional for their time, which helps me avoid projecting specific modern identities (such as gay or transgender) on folks for whom those ideas wouldn’t necessarily have made a lot of sense.

That is all the explanation you need for how, and why, he wrote this history of being "other" in the US's biggest city. It's deeply researched, very well-written, and fascinating to read. Who knew Gypsy Rose Lee and Carson McCullers were close? Who had any idea that Coney Island was known as a queer neighborhood before it was known as a boardwalk and sideshow mecca?

It's enjoyable to learn about New York's most-populous borough with author Hugh Ryan. ( )

Hugh Ryan is an interesting fellow, so when I saw this book was coming out I was intrigued! Hugh is a curator of queer history, a writer and speaker and New York is his home. If someone was going to write the queer history of Brooklyn then this was the man.

I haven't read a queer history book before, books about specific events or people sure, but this one is fascinating. This begins around the time of Walt Whitman. Ryan writes about the way that the waterfront "created conditions that allowed queer lives to flourish in Brooklyn." It was a diverse community that was a place of privacy and numbers...and allowed queer folks to live in relative safety. But has that history been deliberately forgotten?

The book, of course, tells the stories of some of the more famous queer people living in the area...but also gives the reader a better understanding of what life in the 1850s and forward was like an LGBTQ person.

Consider giving this a read if you're interested in history! This might surprise you! ( )

I enjoyed this book a lot. I read this book primarily because I was interested in queer life in the 1920s and 1930s, and on that front it certainly did not disappoint. I was entranced by the descriptions of the way queer people built a community for themselves. I also loved that the book served as who's who of the artists and writers who made Brooklyn home, many of whom were queer themselves or had close queer influences. However, the part of the book that stuck with me the most was the chapter on the erasure of Brooklyn's queer community following WWII. It was like watching a vibrant community crumble before my eyes and hurt profoundly. However, I could not help but also be inspired-- they did ALL of that to get rid of us and damn it, we're still here.

From a historical writing perspective, I especially appreciated two things. First, Ryan careful to identify people as broadly queer (thus demonstrating the depth of queer history) without projecting current identities onto historical figures who never would have identified that way. This is a fine line and I think Ryan walked it well. Second, Ryan was very conscious of the biases in the historical evidence he used, namely the relative exclusion of perspectives from lower class voices and people of color. He also did his best to discuss queer Brooklynites as they saw themselves, despite the fact that a significant portion of the evidence comes from decidedly homophobic sources. ( )

This is, as one might hope, an excellent account of its stated subject. Additionally, the author casts his net pretty widely and adds many tangents, usually interesting, that extend into other areas, notably entertainment history, the seemingly never-ending infatuation with sexuality on the part of American government, and Robert Moses' reinvention of New York City (though I found that last less interesting). I particularly liked the author's empathy with the mindset of people in ages past; the book extends chronologically from the days of Walt Whitman to the eve of the Stonewall riots. Quibbles would include an embarrassingly elementary arithmetic error and the author's evident distaste for the word 'whom', which corrupts a good many of his usually well-crafted sentences. ( )