2007 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleAlthough the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City symbolically mark the start of the gay rights movement; individuals came together long before the modern era to express their same-sex romantic and sexual attraction toward one another; and in a myriad of ways. Some reflected on their desires in quiet solitude; while others endured verbal; physical; and legal harassment for publicly expressing homosexual interest through words or actions.Long Before Stonewall seeks to uncover the many iterations of same-sex desire in colonial America and the early Republic; as well as to expand the scope of how we define and recognize homosocial behavior. Thomas A. Foster has assembled a pathbreaking; interdisciplinary collection of original and classic essays that explore topics ranging from homoerotic imagery of black men to prison reform to the development of sexual orientations. This collection spans a regional and temporal breadth that stretches from the colonial Southwest to Quaker communities in New England. It also includes a challenge to commonly accepted understandings of the Native American berdache. Throughout; connections of race; class; status; and gender are emphasized; exposing the deep foundations on which modern sexual political movements and identities are built.
#2479695 in Books Wayne State Univ Pr 2011-10 2011-10-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.20 x 6.00l; 1.65 #File Name: 0814335179416 pages
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. ExcellentBy arlene alpertHave read only part of this book so far but what I have read has been new material and am learning a lot..Again; assumes previous background so can be difficult to read at times.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. A Book That Changes the FieldBy AcademicThis collection of essays contains some of the most cutting-edge scholarship on East European mysticism; both Jewish and Christian. Instead of studying each religion and its practitioners in isolation; as is usually done; the authors are interested in how they interacted and affected each other. This take on Jewish-Christian relations in Eastern Europe is probably closer to the majority of the lived reality. Some highlights: Yohanan Petrovsky explores the common roots of Jewish and Christian folk medicine in the Ukraine; Moshe Idel's enticing claim that the Ba'al Shem Tov was born and raised in Romanian Walachia and imbibed Christian practices there; Paul Radensky's colorful descriptions of the Tolner Rebbe's court; Elliot Wolfson's mind-blowing insights into messianism; and the several studies of Christian sectarians who "Judaized" in order to rebel against state religion. This book represents a quantum leap in the study of east European religion. It will no longer be acceptable to write about movements like Hasidism in a vacuum; as is still too often the case.
