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When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan
Hugh Ryan’s When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and beyond. No other book, movie, or exhibition has ever told this sweeping story. Not only has Brooklyn always lived in the shadow of queer Manhattan neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and Harlem, but there has also been a systematic erasure of its queer history―a great forgetting.
Ryan is here to unearth that history for the first time. In intimate, evocative, moving prose he discusses in new light the fundamental questions of what history is, who tells it, and how we can only make sense of ourselves through its retelling; and shows how the formation of the Brooklyn we know today is inextricably linked to the stories of the incredible people who created its diverse neighborhoods and cultures. Through them, When Brooklyn Was Queer brings Brooklyn’s queer past to life, and claims its place as a modern classic.
Why you should read it: This is an incredibly well-researched book of Brooklyn's queer history, and I really appreciated the way it was written. It's incredibly thorough and detailed while still being written in a conversational style that really worked for me. The author is clearly writing and researching a topic he is passionate about, and the result is compellingly personal. There were inevitably portions of this book that made me incredibly sad, or incredibly angry — or both — but the history has its moments of joy too. The last few lines of the book made me cry a little. All-in-all a fantastic read.
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Do I know You by Sadie Dingfelder
Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she's a little quirky. But while she's made some strange mistakes over the years, it's not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss.
With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Dingfelder starts contacting neuroscientists and lands herself in scores of studies. In the course of her nerdy midlife crisis, she discovers that she is emphatically not neurotypical. She has prosopagnosia (face blindness), stereoblindness, aphantasia (an inability to create mental imagery), and a condition called severely deficient autobiographical memory.
As Dingfelder begins to see herself more clearly, she discovers a vast well of hidden neurodiversity in the world at large. There are so many different flavors of human consciousness, and most of us just assume that ours is the norm. Can you visualize? Do you have an inner monologue? Are you always 100 percent sure whether you know someone or not? If you can perform any of these mental feats, you may be surprised to learn that many people—including Dingfelder—can't.
A lively blend of personal narrative and popular science, Do I Know You? is the story of one unusual mind's attempt to understand itself—and a fascinating exploration of the remarkable breadth of human experience.
Why you should read it: Well this was completely fascinating, holy hell. A memoir written in a wildly amusing style, despite the fact that there is some seriously heavy subject matter to be found within the pages — I really, sincerely enjoyed having reality tilted this way and that while I read this book, as Dingfelder's investigation kept messing with things I assumed about my own perceptions of reality. This is fascinating science, mind-boggling in places, and left me with so many new questions to consider.
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Wild Faith by Talia Lavin
All across America, a storm is gathering: from book bans in school libraries to anti-trans laws in state legislatures; firebombings of abortion clinics and protests against gay rights. The Christian Right, a cunning political force in America for more than half a century, has never been more powerful than it is right now—it propelled Donald Trump to power, and it won’t stop until it’s refashioned America in its own image.
In Wild Faith, critically acclaimed author Talia Lavin goes deep into what motivates the Christian Right, from its segregationist past to a future riddled with apocalyptic ideology.
Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, Lavin introduces you to “deliverance ministers” who carry out exorcisms by the hundreds; modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets and apostles; Christian militias, cults, zealots, and showmen; and the people in power who are aiding them to achieve their goals.
Along the way, she explores anti-abortion terrorists, the Christian Patriarchy movement, with its desire to place all women under absolute male control; the twisted theology that leads to rampant child abuse; and the ways conspiracy theorists and extremist Christians influence each other to mutual political benefit.
From school boards to the Supreme Court, Christian theocracy is ascendant in America—and only through exploring its motivations and impacts can we understand the crisis we face. In Wild Faith, Lavin fearlessly confronts whether our democracy can survive an organized, fervent theocratic movement, one that seeks to impose its religious beliefs on American citizens.
Why you should read it: This one is a difficult read. A truly excellent book about some completely terrifying realities of the current social and political landscape of America. A lot of the over-arcing information is stuff that I already knew on some level, yet seeing it spelled out and framed this way — seeing the extra details and explanations and analysis — and reading the words of people with traumatic first-hand experience... This book is incredibly well researched and painful. I'm glad I read it. I think the information and perspectives revealed by this research are incredible important. But also, WUFFdah. Approach with care.
When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan
Hugh Ryan’s When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and beyond. No other book, movie, or exhibition has ever told this sweeping story. Not only has Brooklyn always lived in the shadow of queer Manhattan neighborhoods like Greenwich Village and Harlem, but there has also been a systematic erasure of its queer history―a great forgetting.
Ryan is here to unearth that history for the first time. In intimate, evocative, moving prose he discusses in new light the fundamental questions of what history is, who tells it, and how we can only make sense of ourselves through its retelling; and shows how the formation of the Brooklyn we know today is inextricably linked to the stories of the incredible people who created its diverse neighborhoods and cultures. Through them, When Brooklyn Was Queer brings Brooklyn’s queer past to life, and claims its place as a modern classic.
Why you should read it: This is an incredibly well-researched book of Brooklyn's queer history, and I really appreciated the way it was written. It's incredibly thorough and detailed while still being written in a conversational style that really worked for me. The author is clearly writing and researching a topic he is passionate about, and the result is compellingly personal. There were inevitably portions of this book that made me incredibly sad, or incredibly angry — or both — but the history has its moments of joy too. The last few lines of the book made me cry a little. All-in-all a fantastic read.
- — - — - — - — -
Do I know You by Sadie Dingfelder
Science writer Sadie Dingfelder has always known that she's a little quirky. But while she's made some strange mistakes over the years, it's not until she accosts a stranger in a grocery store (whom she thinks is her husband) that she realizes something is amiss.
With a mixture of curiosity and dread, Dingfelder starts contacting neuroscientists and lands herself in scores of studies. In the course of her nerdy midlife crisis, she discovers that she is emphatically not neurotypical. She has prosopagnosia (face blindness), stereoblindness, aphantasia (an inability to create mental imagery), and a condition called severely deficient autobiographical memory.
As Dingfelder begins to see herself more clearly, she discovers a vast well of hidden neurodiversity in the world at large. There are so many different flavors of human consciousness, and most of us just assume that ours is the norm. Can you visualize? Do you have an inner monologue? Are you always 100 percent sure whether you know someone or not? If you can perform any of these mental feats, you may be surprised to learn that many people—including Dingfelder—can't.
A lively blend of personal narrative and popular science, Do I Know You? is the story of one unusual mind's attempt to understand itself—and a fascinating exploration of the remarkable breadth of human experience.
Why you should read it: Well this was completely fascinating, holy hell. A memoir written in a wildly amusing style, despite the fact that there is some seriously heavy subject matter to be found within the pages — I really, sincerely enjoyed having reality tilted this way and that while I read this book, as Dingfelder's investigation kept messing with things I assumed about my own perceptions of reality. This is fascinating science, mind-boggling in places, and left me with so many new questions to consider.
- — - — - — - — -
Wild Faith by Talia Lavin
All across America, a storm is gathering: from book bans in school libraries to anti-trans laws in state legislatures; firebombings of abortion clinics and protests against gay rights. The Christian Right, a cunning political force in America for more than half a century, has never been more powerful than it is right now—it propelled Donald Trump to power, and it won’t stop until it’s refashioned America in its own image.
In Wild Faith, critically acclaimed author Talia Lavin goes deep into what motivates the Christian Right, from its segregationist past to a future riddled with apocalyptic ideology.
Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, Lavin introduces you to “deliverance ministers” who carry out exorcisms by the hundreds; modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets and apostles; Christian militias, cults, zealots, and showmen; and the people in power who are aiding them to achieve their goals.
Along the way, she explores anti-abortion terrorists, the Christian Patriarchy movement, with its desire to place all women under absolute male control; the twisted theology that leads to rampant child abuse; and the ways conspiracy theorists and extremist Christians influence each other to mutual political benefit.
From school boards to the Supreme Court, Christian theocracy is ascendant in America—and only through exploring its motivations and impacts can we understand the crisis we face. In Wild Faith, Lavin fearlessly confronts whether our democracy can survive an organized, fervent theocratic movement, one that seeks to impose its religious beliefs on American citizens.
Why you should read it: This one is a difficult read. A truly excellent book about some completely terrifying realities of the current social and political landscape of America. A lot of the over-arcing information is stuff that I already knew on some level, yet seeing it spelled out and framed this way — seeing the extra details and explanations and analysis — and reading the words of people with traumatic first-hand experience... This book is incredibly well researched and painful. I'm glad I read it. I think the information and perspectives revealed by this research are incredible important. But also, WUFFdah. Approach with care.
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