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S'està carregant… Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington (2022)de James Kirchick
Books Read in 2022 (1,690) S'està carregant…
Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. Fascinating history although the detail is a bit much and borders on gossip. ( ) There's a lot in here I did not know, but a lot that I did. I did know most of the civil rights players (Kameny, Matlovitch, etc) and some of the evil ones (Cohn), but I did not know of the "secret" part of the secret city. Most surprising, I think, it just how involved the "gay machine" was with Iran-Contra. This book claims that pretty much everyone but Ollie North was gay. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but it's intriguing. One thing that really comes through is just how destructive secrecy is. Suicide, career ending discovery, police abuse, all kinds of things. But the most disturbing is just how much self loathing and evil doing results, Roy Cohn being the classic, but hardly only, example. The book covers FDR to Clinton, after which I guess it's no longer necessary to be secret. The book jumps about a bit, which can be a little disorienting. (Didn't I read this already? kind of thing). But very much worth the read. It's quite long and I kept wondering how much longer it could go, but it (the ebook) ends at 61% complete. The rest is hundreds of pages of acknowledgments and end notes. The book is about 750 pages out of a total of over 1200. Very worth the read. Secret City by James Kirchick is a very well researched work that brings to light the many contributions to our country that GLBTQ+ people have made, all while having to hide or defend who they were. As extensive as this work is, and it covers a lot of ground, we should be aware that there are many more people who also toiled from the closet and will likely never be known, not to mention all those who gave up on public service since they weren't supposed to be included as full citizens. Having said that, this work goes a long way toward recovering not simply a chapter of US history but a consistent thread that runs throughout all of the chapters. This book comes very close to being unwieldy, yet I'm not sure, as it is, it should have been broken into two volumes. What I would love to see is a future revision which is broken into two or three volumes and goes into a little more depth on some of the individual stories. I don't want that comment to be misunderstood, I was impressed by just how much depth is included. Considering the time frame, FDR through Clinton, there is a lot of detail and depth. There is no doubt more information Kirchick uncovered that didn't make the cut here. That along with perhaps a few new discoveries would make for an even more detailed history but in several volumes. As a work in the recovery of a marginalized portion of the governmental workforce this book is great. What I think is just as important is the message that young GLBTQ+ readers can takeaway, namely that they are valuable and they can choose public service if they so desire. Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
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"For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret "too loathsome to mention" paradoxically held enormous, terrifying power. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, from FDR through Clinton is a chronicle of American politics like no other. Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of "the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States," award-winning journalist and author James Kirchick illuminates how the idea of homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration, impacting everything from the creation of America's earliest civilian intelligence agency to the rise and fall of McCarthyism, the struggle for African American civil rights, and the conservative movement. Celebrating the men and women who courageously decided that the source of their private shame could instead be galvanized for public pride, Kirchick offers a reinterpretation of American history told from the perspective of the citizens who lived in its shadows. Sweeping in scope and intimate in detail, Secret City will forever transform our understanding of American history"-- No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)306.76Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Culture and Institutions Relations between the sexes, sexualities, love Sexual orientation, gender identityLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
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