12 Non-Fiction Books to Read in June
June has been celebrated as Pride Month for over 50 years, but it was only in 2011 that it was officially expanded to recognize the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum. Although it often feels like change is slow or impossible, Pride Month is a time to honor and recognize the steps forward that have been made towards equity across genders and sexualities. This year, our Pride Month book list is 12 non-fiction books that focus on the history, personal stories, and culture from the LGBTQ+ community. For more resources at UND, check out the Pride Center in the Memorial Union.
History
By Patrick Dilley
physical book at CFL
Through intensive interview and research, Queer Man on Campus reveals the inadequacy of a unified “gay” identity in studying the lives of queer college men. Instead, as Dilley shows, seven distinct types of identities are discernible in the lives of non-heterosexual college males between World War II and the close of the millennium. Dilley traces the development of these identities through the stories of current and former students, illuminating the historical and contextual factors that affect their formation. By situating these types of “non-heterosexuality” as variable and fluid, Dilley offers a new perspective on queer collegiate life.
Black on Both Sides: a racial history of trans identity
By C. Riley Snorton
physical book at CFL and ebook through CFL
The story of Christine Jorgensen, Americas first prominent transsexual, famously narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives– ones lived by African Americans such as Lucy Hicks Anderson and James McHarris. Their erasure from trans history masks the profound ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. Drawing on a deep and varied archive of materials–early sexological texts, fugitive slave narratives, Afro-modernist literature, sensationalist journalism, Hollywood films– Snorton attends to how slavery and the production of racialized gender provided the foundations for an understanding of gender as mutable.
By Lillian Faderman
audiobook through Libby
The sweeping story of the modern struggle for gay, lesbian, and trans rights–from the 1950s to the present–based on amazing interviews with politicians, military figures, legal activists, and members of the entire LGBT community who face these challenges every day.
A Queer History of the United States
By Michael Bronski
physical book at CFL and ebook through CFL
A Queer History of the United States is groundbreaking and accessible. Bronski’s book is filled with startling examples of often ignored or unknown aspects of American history: the ineffectiveness of sodomy laws in the colonies, the prevalence of cross-dressing women soldiers in the Civil War, the effect of new technologies on LGBT life in the 19th century, and how rock music and popular culture were, in large part, responsible for the great backlash against gay rights in the late 1970s. More than anything, A Queer History of the United States is not so much about queer history as it is about all American history–and why it should matter to both LGBT people and heterosexuals alike
By Martin Duberman
physical book at CFL and ebook through CFL
The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. At a little after one a.m. on the morning of June 28, 1969, the police carried out a routine raid on the bar. But it turned out not to be routine at all. Instead of cowering – the usual reaction to a police raid – the patrons inside Stonewall and the crowd that gathered outside the bar fought back against the police. The five days of rioting that followed changed forever the face of lesbian and gay life. In the years since 1969, the Stonewall riots have become the central symbolic event of the modern gay movement. Renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman now tells for the first time the full story of what happened at Stonewall, recreating in vivid detail those heady, sweltering nights in June 1969 and revealing a wealth of previously unknown material.
Memoir and personal essay
By Chana Wilson
physical book at CFL
Riding Fury Home spans forty years of the intense, complex relationship between Chana and her mother—the trauma of their early years together, the transformation and joy they found when they both came out in the 1970s, and the deep bond that grew between them. Exquisitely written and devastatingly honest, Riding Fury Home is a shattering account of one family’s struggle against homophobia and mental illness—and a powerful story of healing, forgiveness, and redemption.
By Julia Serano
physical book at CFL
Julia Serano, a transsexual woman whose supremely intelligent writing reflects her diverse background as a lesbian transgender activist and professional biologist, shares her powerful experiences and observations — both pre- and post-transition — to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.
By Samra Habib
physical book at CFL
Growing up in Pakistan, Samra Habib lacks a blueprint for the life she wants. As the threats against her family increase, they seek refuge in Canada, where new financial and cultural obstacles await them. So begins a journey of self-discovery that takes her to Tokyo, where she comes to terms with her sexuality, and to a queer-friendly mosque in Toronto, where she returns to her faith in the same neighborhood where she attended her first drag show. Along the way, she learns that the facets of her identity aren’t as incompatible as she was led to believe, and that her people had always been there–the world just wasn’t ready for them yet.
By Ma-Nee Chacaby
ebook through CFL
A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community riven by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby’s story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism. Ma-Nee Chacaby has emerged from hardship grounded in faith, compassion, humor, and resilience. Her memoir provides unprecedented insights into the challenges still faced by many Indigenous people.
Reference
By Justin Elizabeth Sayre
physical book at CFL
Do you know your gAyBCs? ABBA, ACT Up, Angels in America, James Baldwin, But I’m a Cheerleader, Joan Crawford, Laverne Cox… The gAyBCs-collects hundreds of witty readable short texts on pop culture moments, iconic figures, ongoing challenges in the LGBTQ+ community and everything in between. Here to entertain, throw some shade, and bring some joy, this carefully curated (and absolutely not definitive) A-to-Z perspective on queer culture also aims to make you laugh, think, and act, and serves as a reminder that queer culture isn’t just what we have been, but what we are.
By Chloe O. Davis
physical book at CFL
The Queens’ English is a comprehensive guide to modern gay slang, queer theory terms, and playful colloquialisms that define and celebrate LGBTQIA+ culture. This modern dictionary provides an in-depth look at queer language, from terms influenced by celebrated lesbian poet Sappho and from New York’s underground queer ball culture in the 1980s to today’s celebration of RuPaul’s Drag Race. A series of educational lessons highlight key people and events that shaped queer language; readers will learn the linguistic importance of pronouns, gender identity, Stonewall, the Harlem Renaissance, and more.
By R.B. Parkinson
physical book at CFL
When was the first chat-up line between men recorded? Who was the first “lesbian”? Were ancient Greek men who had sex with each other necessarily “gay,” and what did Shakespeare think about crossdressing? A Little Gay History answers these questions and more through close readings of art objects from the British Museum’s far-ranging collection. Consulting ancient Egyptian papyri, the Roman Warren Cup’s erotic figures, David Hockney’s vivid prints, and dozens of other artifacts, R. B. Parkinson draws attention to a diverse range of same-sex experiences and situates them within specific historical and cultural contexts.
