Front cover image for Stonewall : the riots that sparked the gay revolution

Stonewall : the riots that sparked the gay revolution

In 1969, a series of riots over police action at The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New Yprk City's Greenwich Village changed the landscape of the homosexual in society, literally overnight. These riots are widely acknowledged as the 'first shot' that ushered in a previously unimagined era of openness, political action, and massive social change. Coming during a time when lesbians and gays were routinely closeted and in fear of losing their jobs, their apartments, their families and even their freedom, these riots - barely covered in the media at the time - were the spark that led to a new militancy and openness in the gay political movement. David Carter provides an in-depth account of those riots as well as a complete background of the bar, the area in which the riots occurred, and the social, political, and legal climate that led up to those events. Based on over a decade of research, hundreds of interviews, and an exhaustive search of public and private records, Stonewall is the story of one of modern history's most singular events
Print Book, English, 2004
St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004
History
336 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
9780312200251, 9780312342692, 0312200250, 0312342691
54079526
pt. 1. Setting the stage : Greenwich Village, USA ; Oppression, resistance, and everyday life ; On the street ; The Stonewall Inn ; The skull ; Dawn is just breaking
pt. 2. The Stonewall riots : A Friday night out ; "We're taking the place!" ; Lancing the festering wound of anger ; "Christopher Street belongs to the queens!" ; "They've lost that wounded look"
pt. 3. Gay liberation : Seizing the moment ; "We're the gay liberation front!" ; The heroic age