Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement - Softcover

Mark Thompson; Randy Shilts

4.54

13 ratings by Goodreads

9780312131142: Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312131143 ISBN 13: 9780312131142

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1995

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News stories, essays, cartoons, interviews, and more than one thousand photographs, all culled from the pages of the leading homosexual publication, chronicle the gay rights movement over the past twenty-five years. Reprint.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

This handsomely produced large-format volume traces over 25 years of the gay and lesbian movement's history through the pages of its foremost newsmagazine, the Advocate. (Thompson is senior editor). This is an appropriate choice for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, generally considered the birth of the modern gay and lesbian movement in the US. Going year by year, this volume offers a survey of major political, cultural, social, and medical events in the history of the gay and lesbian movement, as reported in the Advocate since its inception in September 1967. Each year receives a single chapter, with an opening essay by a prominent gay or lesbian journalist or author, a chronology of key events of the year, and a selection of articles drawn from the magazine. The book takes readers from a time when homosexuality was treated as a pathology, and when gays and lesbians were for the most part unorganized and deep in the closet, to 1992, when a vocal gay and lesbian movement helped elect Bill Clinton president. The book is relentlessly honest about the divisions within the gay and lesbian communities (particularly concerning the growing AIDS crisis as it broke in the mid-1980s) and earnestly self-critical in its evaluation of the magazine's coverage of many issues (shortchanging lesbians and people of color in its earlier days). Many interviews are excerpted, with subjects as diverse as Jesse Jackson, Christopher Isherwood, Milton Berle, and Michel Foucault. Readers can also see the Advocate itself evolve from a spirited amateurism into a magazine of exceptionally high journalistic standards. A useful and relatively comprehensive guide to nearly 30 years of gay and lesbian history, but one wishes for fewer and longer excerpts. Also, the magazine's excellent cartoonists get somewhat short shrift. -- Copyright �1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Neither a chronological history nor a comprehensive encyclopedia, this compendium of features, interviews, and newsbites from the first 25 years (1967-92) of the Advocate magazine is suitable for both casual browsing and serious research. The book is divided into yearly chapters, each introduced by an essay and a two-page summary of the year's news. Comprising the bulk of each chapter, seven to ten archival articles cover both events and personalities, with scattered marginalia (e.g., outrageous quotes, political cartoons, letters to the editor) illuminating these longer stories. Some of the best writing is found in the often very personal introductory essays, authored by prominent lesbians and gay men from the worlds of academia (Martin Duberman), literature (John Preston), politics (Urvashi Vaid) and journalism (Richard Rouilard). However, this sum is greater than its parts; the reader closes the book with interlaced memories of dozens of sometimes contradictory, always provacative individuals sharing a common goal. This unique resource is highly recommended for public libraries and is also appropriate for academic collections supporting gay studies and journalism programs. --Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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