2nessreader
Off the top of my head, Mother Clap's Molly House by Rictor Norton, which is men and the 18th and early 19th century, mostly taken from trial records, and a lot about lower class men in London, not just aristos. For women, I remember enjoying Surpassing the Love of Men by Lilian Faderman but read it decades ago I remember the late 19th century bits and early 20th century section but the earlier lesbian history was either sketchily done or my memory has blitzed it. She definitely mentioned the 18th century ladies who eloped to Llangollen and were a celebrity couple (Mavor did a biog for penguin publishers of the ladies of L)
ETA Rose Collis did a collection of biographical essays of women called Portraits to the Wall which was a good read (20th cent) and the TV series gentleman jack was based on the reallife Diaries of Anne Lister (victorian)
ETA Rose Collis did a collection of biographical essays of women called Portraits to the Wall which was a good read (20th cent) and the TV series gentleman jack was based on the reallife Diaries of Anne Lister (victorian)
3Petroglyph
Disclaimer: most of the recommendations I am able to suggest are of the academic and/or literary criticism persuasion. I've listed them from less to more academic.
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Black Bull, Ancestors and Me: My Life as a Lesbian Sangoma: a memoir by Nkunzi Zandile Nkabinde, chronicling her life as a lesbian sangoma or South African traditional healer.
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Sodomy and the pirate tradition by B. R. Burg: a fun but fairly scholarly text looking into gay communities amongs mainly pirates and other sea-bound outlaws. (For "sodomy" read "gay" or "same-sex relationships"; Burg deliberately uses a 19th-century term).
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The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World's Queer Frontiers by Gevisser
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Homoeroticism in classical Arabic literature by Wright and Rowson.
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Sex and politics in South Africa by Hoad et al. A collection of articles and papers around South Africa's post-Apartheid Constitution (which enshrined equality regardless of sexual orientation) and the 2006 law legalizing same-sex relationships. Several are autobiographical in nature; others unlock archival documents. Pick what interests you and skip the rest.
- Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, edited by Duberman, Chauncey and Vicinus. Another collection of essays focusing on South Africa.
4lilithcat
The sodomite in fiction and satire, 1660-1750, by Cameron McFarlane
Not in front of the audience : homosexuality on stage, by Nicholas De Jongh
Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Music, by John Gill
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, by Randy Shilts
The Gay Metropolis, 1940-1996, by Charles Kaiser
Homosexuality in Renaissance and Enlightenment England: Literary Representations in Historical Context, by Claude J. Summers
Against the Law, by Peter Wildeblood
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: the History of a Lesbian Community, by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy
Not in front of the audience : homosexuality on stage, by Nicholas De Jongh
Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Music, by John Gill
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, by Randy Shilts
The Gay Metropolis, 1940-1996, by Charles Kaiser
Homosexuality in Renaissance and Enlightenment England: Literary Representations in Historical Context, by Claude J. Summers
Against the Law, by Peter Wildeblood
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: the History of a Lesbian Community, by Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy
5lilithcat
POC:
Scottsboro Boy, by Haywood Patterson
Any of Belinda Hurmence’s oral histories.
Simple Justice: the History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality, by Richard Kluger
Caste : the origins of our discontents and The warmth of other suns : the epic story of America's great migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
Sacred ground : the Chicago streets of Timuel Black, by Timuel Black
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones
The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America, by Raymond Arsenault
Scottsboro Boy, by Haywood Patterson
Any of Belinda Hurmence’s oral histories.
Simple Justice: the History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle for Equality, by Richard Kluger
Caste : the origins of our discontents and The warmth of other suns : the epic story of America's great migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
Sacred ground : the Chicago streets of Timuel Black, by Timuel Black
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, by Nikole Hannah-Jones
The Sound of Freedom: Marian Anderson, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Concert That Awakened America, by Raymond Arsenault
6lorax
Queer:
Coming Out Under Fire is rather narrow in scope (cis gay men and women in the US during WWII) but is a classic for a reason.
Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality uses a different lens to argue that heterosexuality is only meaningful as an identity with the understanding that alternatives exist.
A Queer History of the United States is, as it sounds, a general overview of the topic suggested by the title.
Courting Justice is again narrow, and somewhat outdated - it's focused on US Supreme Court cases affecting gay people (it's early enough that trans and non-binary issues are not addressed); it predates Obergefell by quite a while, so I've tagged it as "desperately in need of an update".
Coming Out Under Fire is rather narrow in scope (cis gay men and women in the US during WWII) but is a classic for a reason.
Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality uses a different lens to argue that heterosexuality is only meaningful as an identity with the understanding that alternatives exist.
A Queer History of the United States is, as it sounds, a general overview of the topic suggested by the title.
Courting Justice is again narrow, and somewhat outdated - it's focused on US Supreme Court cases affecting gay people (it's early enough that trans and non-binary issues are not addressed); it predates Obergefell by quite a while, so I've tagged it as "desperately in need of an update".
7lorax
POC:
The Bone and Sinew of the Land is about Black settlers in the US Northwest Territory (what is now much of the upper Midwest), and how initial acceptance of small numbers of individuals turned into backlash and restrictions on larger populations.
Four Hundred Souls is a collection of short pieces, one per decade, of American history from 1619-2019 as it affected Black people. Since each piece is similar in length, it's sobering to just put a couple bookmarks in - one at the end of slavery, one at the Voting Rights Act, and see how thin the final section is.
The Warmth of Other Suns is an outstanding history of the Great Migration in the US. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I am currently reading (for an ER book) New Prize for These Eyes which is about the recent development of what the author calls the "second civil rights movement", especially Black Lives Matter - it begins with the Obama administration, and concludes in the middle of the Biden administration.
Since you asked for POC in general, rather than Black specifically:
Lakota America: A New History of American Power is a detailed, serious look at American history from a Lakota perspective, which among many other things described the approach of many indigenous people playing the various European powers against each other as the indigenous people focused on what they considered the important considerations of their relationships and conflicts with one another. I grew up in South Dakota and was absolutely captivated. The same author (Pekka Hamalainen) also has a broader Indigenous Continent that I own and haven't read yet.
The Bone and Sinew of the Land is about Black settlers in the US Northwest Territory (what is now much of the upper Midwest), and how initial acceptance of small numbers of individuals turned into backlash and restrictions on larger populations.
Four Hundred Souls is a collection of short pieces, one per decade, of American history from 1619-2019 as it affected Black people. Since each piece is similar in length, it's sobering to just put a couple bookmarks in - one at the end of slavery, one at the Voting Rights Act, and see how thin the final section is.
The Warmth of Other Suns is an outstanding history of the Great Migration in the US. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I am currently reading (for an ER book) New Prize for These Eyes which is about the recent development of what the author calls the "second civil rights movement", especially Black Lives Matter - it begins with the Obama administration, and concludes in the middle of the Biden administration.
Since you asked for POC in general, rather than Black specifically:
Lakota America: A New History of American Power is a detailed, serious look at American history from a Lakota perspective, which among many other things described the approach of many indigenous people playing the various European powers against each other as the indigenous people focused on what they considered the important considerations of their relationships and conflicts with one another. I grew up in South Dakota and was absolutely captivated. The same author (Pekka Hamalainen) also has a broader Indigenous Continent that I own and haven't read yet.
8nessreader
On Black history, Black and British is a strong one (the latest edition is updated to cover the Windrush scandal), and I'm embarrassed I forgot to mention the Caribbean classic by CLR James The Black Jacobins which is appalling but mesmerislingly well told.
I anti-rec Black Tudors which resembles those terrible biographies of Shakespeare "I have about 5 bits of documentation; let's filler up the pages with speculation and essays about tudor poaching techniques"
I anti-rec Black Tudors which resembles those terrible biographies of Shakespeare "I have about 5 bits of documentation; let's filler up the pages with speculation and essays about tudor poaching techniques"
9nessreader
I haven't read the following one yet Billy Waters Is Dancing which is a micro history about a famous busker in London at the start of the 19th century - a dancing amputee who had been in the navy.
10nessreader
I haven't read the following one yet Billy Waters Is Dancing which is a micro history about a famous busker in London at the start of the 19th century - a dancing amputee who had been in the navy. It's from yale so have hopes it will be good.
11cpg
>7 lorax: "I grew up in South Dakota and was absolutely captivated. The same author (Pekka Hamalainen) also has a broader Indigenous Continent that I own and haven't read yet."
I second lorax's endorsement of Hamalainen's work. He really does write fascinating history.
I second lorax's endorsement of Hamalainen's work. He really does write fascinating history.
12Aceinthehole
>2 nessreader: Thanks
13Aceinthehole
>3 Petroglyph: Thanks
14Aceinthehole
>4 lilithcat: Thank you
15Aceinthehole
>5 lilithcat: Thanks
16Aceinthehole
>6 lorax: Thanks
17Aceinthehole
>7 lorax: Thanks
18Aceinthehole
>10 nessreader: Thanks
