Search results for ""Author John D'Emilio""

With thorough documentation of the oppression of homosexuals and biographical sketches of the lesbian and gay heroes who helped the contemporary gay culture to emerge, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities supplies the definitive analysis of the homophile movement in the U.S. from 1940 to 1970. John D'Emilio's new preface and afterword examine the conditions that shaped the book and the growth of gay and lesbian historical literature. "How many students of American political culture know that during the McCarthy era more people lost their jobs for being alleged homosexuals than for being Communists? ...These facts are part of the heretofore obscure history of homosexuality in America--a history that John D'Emilio thoroughly documents in this important book."--George DeStefano, Nation "John D'Emilio provides homosexual political struggles with something that every movement requires--a sympathetic history rendered in a dispassionate voice."--New York Times Book Review "A milestone in the history of the American gay movement."--Rudy Kikel, Boston Globe

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John D’Emilio is one of the leading historians of his generation and a pioneering figure in the field of LGBTQ history. At times his life has been seemingly at odds with his upbringing. How does a boy from an Italian immigrant family in which everyone unfailingly went to confession and Sunday Mass become a lapsed Catholic? How does a family who worshipped Senator Joseph McCarthy and supported Richard Nixon produce an antiwar activist and pacifist? How does a family in which the word divorce was never spoken raise a son who comes to explore the hidden gay sexual underworld of New York City?Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood is D’Emilio’s coming-of-age story in which he takes readers from his working-class Bronx neighborhood to an elite Jesuit high school in Manhattan to Columbia University and the political and social upheavals of the late 1960s. He shares his personal experiences of growing up in a conservative, tight-knit, multigenerational family, how he went from considering entering the priesthood to losing his faith and coming to terms with his same-sex desires. Throughout, D’Emilio outlines his complicated relationship with his family while showing how his passion for activism influenced his decision to use research, writing, and teaching to build a strong LGBTQ movement. This is not just John D’Emilio’s personal story; it opens a window into how the conformist baby boom decade of the 1950s transformed into the tumultuous years of radical social movements and widespread protest during the 1960s. It is the story of what happens when different cultures and values collide and the tensions and possibilities for personal discovery and growth that emerge. Intimate and honest, D’Emilio’s story will resonate with anyone who has had to chart their own path in a world they did not expect to find.

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Something happened in the 1990s, something dramatic and irreversible. A group of people long considered a moral menace and an issue previously deemed unmentionable in public discourse were transformed into a matter of human rights, discussed in every institution of American society. Marriage, the military, parenting, media and the arts, hate violence, electoral politics, public school curricula, human genetics, religion: Name the issue, and the the role of gays and lesbians was a subject of debate. During the 1990s, the world seemed finally to turn and take notice of the gay people in its midst. In The World Turned, distinguished historian and leading gay-rights activist John D’Emilio shows how gay issues moved from the margins to the center of national consciousness during the critical decade of the 1990s.In this collection of essays, D’Emilio brings his historian’s eye to bear on these profound changes in American society, culture, and politics. He explores the career of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader and pacifist who was openly gay a generation before almost everyone else; the legacy of radical gay and lesbian liberation; the influence of AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer; the scapegoating of gays and lesbians by the Christian Right; the gay-gene controversy and the debate over whether people are "born gay"; and the explosion of attention focused on queer families. He illuminates the historical roots of contemporary debates over identity politics and explains why the gay community has become, over the last decade, such a visible part of American life.

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The variety of gay life in Chicago is too abundant and too diverse, to be contained in a single place. But since 1981, the Gerbert/Hart Library & Archives on the city's North Side has strived to do just that, amassing and cataloging a wealth of records related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified people and organizations in the city. In Queer Legacies, John D'Emilio--a pioneering scholar of gay and lesbian studies--digs deep into the collection at the Gerbert/Hart Library to unearth a kaleidoscopic look at the community built by generations of gay men and women in Chicago. Excavated from one of the country's most important, yet overlooked, LGBTQ archives, the stories included in his book are populated by athletes, lawyers, publishers, artists, performers, and organizers, each offering their own fascinating contribution to Chicago's historically vibrant scene . The breezy and enthusiastic essays that make up Queer Legacies range in focus from politics, culture, social life, and the history of institutions like Dignity--the foremost organization for LGBTQ Catholics--and the Gay Academic Union. Though the book is anchored in Chicago, many of the essays reach farther revealing the connections to events and issues of national import. Queer Legacies illuminates how archives can be more than musty spaces far from the urgent concerns of the present day, and shows that institutions like the Gerbert/Hart are a life-giving resource for the historically marginalized communities they serve. This book gives readers an inclusive and personal look at fifty years of a national fight for visibility, recognition, and equality led by LGBTQ Americans who, quite literally, made history. In these troubled times, it will surely inspire a new generation of scholars and activists.

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The variety of gay life in Chicago is too abundant and too diverse, to be contained in a single place. But since 1981, the Gerbert/Hart Library & Archives on the city's North Side has strived to do just that, amassing and cataloging a wealth of records related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified people and organizations in the city. In Queer Legacies, John D'Emilio--a pioneering scholar of gay and lesbian studies--digs deep into the collection at the Gerbert/Hart Library to unearth a kaleidoscopic look at the community built by generations of gay men and women in Chicago. Excavated from one of the country's most important, yet overlooked, LGBTQ archives, the stories included in his book are populated by athletes, lawyers, publishers, artists, performers, and organizers, each offering their own fascinating contribution to Chicago's historically vibrant scene . The breezy and enthusiastic essays that make up Queer Legacies range in focus from politics, culture, social life, and the history of institutions like Dignity--the foremost organization for LGBTQ Catholics--and the Gay Academic Union. Though the book is anchored in Chicago, many of the essays reach farther revealing the connections to events and issues of national import. Queer Legacies illuminates how archives can be more than musty spaces far from the urgent concerns of the present day, and shows that institutions like the Gerbert/Hart are a life-giving resource for the historically marginalized communities they serve. This book gives readers an inclusive and personal look at fifty years of a national fight for visibility, recognition, and equality led by LGBTQ Americans who, quite literally, made history. In these troubled times, it will surely inspire a new generation of scholars and activists.

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As the first full-length study of the history of sexuality in America, "Intimate Matters" offered trenchant insights into the sexual behavior of Americans from colonial times to the present. Now, twenty-five years after its first publication, this ground-breaking classic is back in a crucial and updated third edition. With new and extended chapters, John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman give us an even deeper understanding of how sexuality has dramatically influenced politics and culture throughout our history and into the present. Hailed by critics for its comprehensive approach and noted by the US Supreme Court in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas ruling, "Intimate Matters" details the changes in sexuality and the ongoing growth of individual freedoms in the United States through meticulous research and lucid prose.

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Over time, sexuality in America has changed dramatically. Frequently redefined and often subject to different systems of regulation, it has been used as a means of control; it has been a way to understand ourselves and others; and it has been at the center of fierce political storms, including some of the most crucial changes in civil rights in the last decade. Edited by Thomas A. Foster, "Documenting Intimate Matters" features seventy-two documents that collectively highlight the broad diversity inherent in the history of American sexuality. Complementing the third edition of "Intimate Matters", by John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman - often hailed as the definitive survey of sexual history in America - the multiple narratives presented by these documents reveal the complexity of this subject in US history. The historical moments captured in this volume will show that, contrary to popular misconception, the history of sexuality is not a simple story of increased freedoms and sexual liberation, but an ongoing struggle between change and continuity.

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Over time, sexuality in America has changed dramatically. Frequently redefined and often subject to different systems of regulation, it has been used as a means of control; it has been a way to understand ourselves and others; and it has been at the center of fierce political storms, including some of the most crucial changes in civil rights in the last decade. Edited by Thomas A. Foster, "Documenting Intimate Matters" features seventy-two documents that collectively highlight the broad diversity inherent in the history of American sexuality. Complementing the third edition of "Intimate Matters", by John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman - often hailed as the definitive survey of sexual history in America - the multiple narratives presented by these documents reveal the complexity of this subject in US history. The historical moments captured in this volume will show that, contrary to popular misconception, the history of sexuality is not a simple story of increased freedoms and sexual liberation, but an ongoing struggle between change and continuity.

Read more less