The Stonewall Riots by Marc Stein is fantastic in its scope, covering three years prior to the riots and three years post via 200+ sources. 

Stein’s ability to contextualise movements and analyse the intersections of them is excellent, and he doesn’t shy away from highlighting the frictions and ignorance present within various LGBT+ communities. 

Personally, I think this text itself should be an add-on to your reading rather than the focal point of your reading on the riots as Stein doesn’t spell everything out for you. Heading in with some basic knowledge of both the riots, and history of this period will allow you to better grasp and understand the activities and movements.

The Stonewall Riots is a very informative and interesting book that would improve any reference collection.  The depth of coverage, from3 years before, during, and 3 years after the riots is impressive.  I learned many things I did not know while reading this book and interested readers can learn a good amount of LGBT history here as well.  The coverage is mostly from LGBT newspapers, with very little coverage of mainstream papers.  I felt like more mainstream coverage should have been included but the author points out that the mainstream coverage is easier to find.  This is true enough, but I really felt like some mainstream stories should have been included to show the whole picture.  Without those stories, you get a biased view and it could lead to misunderstandings.  One reading this might not realize how anti-gay mainstream publications were at the time.  There is some reference to that fact, but again, I think to see those stories juxtaposed with stories from LGBT publications would have given a more rounded picture of the times and the environment.  Overall though, I think it can be of great use as a starting point for research perhaps.  Especially since many of the stories included are not provided in full, follow-up research will need to be done.

This should be considered a leading text on this a subject, a broad and compelling look at the birth of the LGBT political movement.

This should be required reading. I feel like I learned so much about from this book. I will definitely come back to it as there was so much to absorb.

This book took me through the history of the Stonewall Riots and gave me a new outlook and appreciation for New York City and the people who fought fearlessly for their right to love and be loved

The great thing about this book is that it has sources pre, post and during Stonewall. 

I would recommend this as a companion text. I wouldn't say it something that you can go to without at least an understanding of what the Stonewall Riots were. I would encourage anyone with an interest in history, LGBTQ+ or otherwise to get their hands on a copy. It would be a great addition to the bookshelf of anyone studying sociology, politics or anyone who is an equality activist.

Stein's book, The Stonewall Riots is a deep dive into primary and secondary sources on the Riots, the lead up to them, and the aftermath. It's a rigorous overview, and Stein is aware that his sources aren't certainties, they're a collection of historical documents that can lead to historical interpretations. It's how history should be approached - knowing that the past cannot be exactly and completely reconstructed because there are so many facets of experiences and impacts that any event or series of events can have. I suspect this will become a classic book for LGBT studies going forwards - it doesn't shy away from the important aspects of discussing race, class, and culture.

The Stonewall Riots is something that everyone should know about. It does not matter if you identify as straight, it is an important piece of history that must be remembered. Equally important is celebrating those who carved the way for future LGBTQ+ people. Life isn't perfect but hopefully things will continue to progress in a positive way. Stein documents the event in a powerful and evocative way. A wonderful book.

A really good book. A history of the Stonewall riots as told through a wide variety of publications from that period. Mainstream and alternative publications are included. It was interesting to see the slightly different interpretations of the events, varying by the different viewpoints of the reporters and those interviewed.  It is nice to have all the recorded historical information in one place.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Amassing a cornucopia of primary sources (many of which have never been published outside their original sources), Marc Stein’s Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History provides the LGBTQIA scholar and student alike with fresh and historical glimpses into the Stonewall Riots and into the social milieu leading up to and following this pivotal moment in queer activist history. Drawing on over two hundred sources as wide-ranging as the Los Angeles Advocate and The Lesbian Tide to more obscure publications like court documents, The Mattachine Society and The Daughters of Bilitis newsletters, Stein’s vision for this Documentary History is to “promote new interpretations, innovative analyses and original explorations by everyone who examines these materials” while also filling vast lacunae in teaching and researching Stonewall with primary source materials. 

Organized in three sections divided as (1) The Pre-Stonewall Years [1965-1969], (2) Stonewall, and (3) The Post-Stonewall Era [1969-1973], Stonewall Riots delves into non-fiction resources, and at that, almost exclusively into LGBTQIA publications (excepting the occasional article from geographically pertinent sources like The Village Voice or The New York Times). The archives unearthed come from San Francisco and D.C. in addition to the four largest urban areas in the United States between the mid-1960s and 1973, the height of the Gay Liberation Movement. 

Various chapter topics include gay bars and policing, political protests before Stonewall, pride marches and parades following the riots, and critical chapters that offer insights into direct actions and activist agendas both pre- and post-Stonewall. In short, Stein aims to make available resources that ordinarily would prove difficult for the average researcher to track down while also inviting comparison and analysis of important topics related to the riots. Although the sources are necessarily edited for length, the collection Stein stockpiles here leaves no stone unturned when it comes to offering a more comprehensive look at the context and events of Stonewall, weighing issues of race, class, sex, politics, and access in determining what made the volume’s final cut.

Stonewall Riots is prefaced with a thorough introductory historiographical essay written by Stein, and this contribution in addition to the outstanding appendix and research documentation alone make the volume indispensable for researchers and activists serious about LGBTQIA history. Besides inquiring as to the reasons why and where the Stonewall Riots took place, a defining argument of the opening essay cautiously stresses that a passel of original documents will not necessarily lead to historical certainties about Stonewall. Nevertheless, Stein contends, the study of multiple sources like those included in this work does importantly permit the researcher to make justifiable interpretations and reasonable assumptions from context about the meanings and outcomes of events related to Stonewall. Indeed, one of the most fruitful accomplishments of the book’s introductory essay--in addition to its lucidity--is in identifying as contingent and co-incidental important ideas and events that build toward and emerge following the riots.

Instead of indiscriminately attributing the origins of the Gay Liberation Movement to the Stonewall Riots, Stein lays out the case for multiple frameworks to alternatively explain the movement’s pinnacle and visibility through the riots. He particularly pays attention to cultural, racial, and class distinctions within the queer communities of the 1960s, amply documenting the “respectable” and “sexual” arms of the movement(s). Furthermore, Stein gives full attention to historical continuities linked to the movement over the attractive and often mythical discontinuities that credit Stonewall alone with significant social change. Among the historical frameworks discussed that look beyond Stonewall for the origins of the movement are:

(1)	The culmination of two decades of LGBTQIA resistance from the early 1950s to the late 1960s encompassing over thirty protests involving various Mattachine groups, the Janus Society, the Homosexual Law Reform Society, and the Daughters of Bilitis among others.

(2)	The effect of a tradition of bar-based resistance exemplified through consumer culture and African-American resistance to the history of prohibition to the fact that early queer bars often emerged from and collaborated with organized crime.

(3)	Contextualizing the movement within the broader political and radical social justice movements occurring around the same time as the Gay Liberation Movement, and

(4)	The fact of national political disillusionment (Nixon’s election) and the worsening of overall social conditions for LGBTQIA communities at the whim of local authorities bent on securing re-election through “law and order” platforms that involved cracking down on queers.

Other concerns addressed in the opening essay include who has the right to lay claim to the Stonewall Riots as a part of their history; who and why certain groups have claimed the riots as part of their own; and the importance of affirming and addressing the roles people of color played in the riots and in early LGBTQIA activism.

Although the documents included in Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History do not go beyond 1973, they can (and do) assist in developing a more accurate and complicated snapshot of the facts and conceivable effects of Stonewall. In reading through this volume, one of the things that consistently struck me as extraordinary was that despite all the incredible divisions among the LGBT community of the time (white middle class men leading most large liberal groups, lesbians merely serving as “tokens” for otherwise male-driven organizations, street kids and hustlers feeling lesser than and left out of the movement, and many wanting a “respectability” vs. a freedom of sexual expression, while some still pondered the suitability of non-violence), action still remained possible. This message ought to especially bring hope to those of today’s generation. 

The readings Stein chooses do not paper over the queer community’s blemishes in their representation; they even remind us that queers weren’t without their own wince-worthy ignorance. While inwardly reacting against various appeals in several articles demanding gays be less “campy” and “out of hand” while in public, I particularly became aware of the sensibilities of the times in which we live. I literally gasped out loud when reading a 1965 transvestite account wherein Susanna Valenti laments that “women have all the breaks [and asks] how many times has a woman solved an important problem just by putting on a good cry?” Valenti even voices that she has “a sneaking suspicion that it’s woman who has invented today’s Masculine Role.” It’s not without surprise, therefore, that we learn that some held that there would never be “unity of organization.” 

Manifestos as well as court documents round out the readings Stein selects, and for those interested in the recent utopic turn in queer theory, there isn’t a shortage of evidence to attest to its practice early on in the Gay Liberation Movement. Anti-relationality, it appears, was a value the movement fought for, not one it succeeded with. 

To sum up, Stein contextualizes this work quite well, and very useful tips for further sources are provided in the book’s appendix and endnotes; and while I have not yet visited it, readers and educators should take notice that the work will be complemented with an extensive online research guide. I find it especially useful to add here that In taking up Stonewall Riots, I am aware above all that this anthology is not meant simply to re-present History (with a capital “H”). To the contrary, it is meant to inspire. A particularly unique feature of Stonewall Riots among activist histories is its inclusion of chapters on the understudied dimension of direct actions, events that were “creative and dramatic” and, as Stein adds, these (among the several contributions between Stonewall Riot’s covers) “may prove useful for those searching for ideas and inspirations in new political struggles.”

The Stonewall Riots is a interesting and informative book. Marc Stein has done a lot of research and has written a good book.

This was a very enlightening, eye-opening read. This is the first time I’ve read a book like this where the reader has access to such a wealth of information from original documents. It’s really great to be able to read source documents yourself and form your own conclusions. It was  very fascinating and at times quite shocking material, especially the instances of police brutality and corruption. The eye-witness accounts give us a unique glimpse into the way people thought and lived back then.  

I would recommend you read this in addition to other works about the Stonewall Riots, because a more profound prior knowledge will help the reader in placing all the documents and points of view that you come across in this book.

The Stonewall Riots by Marc Stein et. al. is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in late April.

A series of non-mainstream magazine/newsletter articles sorted by year (1965-1973) that take place around New York, other nationwide riots and protests, gay liberation, recognition, and empowerment, before gradually focusing on the Stonewall Riots and their aftermath. I’d been really concerned that the thesis-like tone to the introduction would pervade the entire book, but, thank goodness, it does not and the nature of the writers shine brilliantly through, often with 2-3 articles chiming in on the same event (i.e. the perspective of Dick Leitch versus that of the magazine Screw), personal experiences, bars and clubs labelled as ‘bizarre’ or ‘wild,' committee groups (often with their own code of conduct, rules, bill of rights, and written faqs), rumors of New York’s gay bars (including The Stonewall Inn) as being funded or fronted by the mob, NBC and CBS studios protested against on the air and near their offices, and the advent of gay marriage in 1970.

An excellent thorough textbook that carefully compiles primary sources to tell the story of the Stonewall riots first hand. Perfect for students looking for original documents.

So much has been written about Stonewall and its place in the history of LGBT rights that one would think what more do we need to know.  Mark Stein's work gives you the "more" you need.  He has chosen 200 primary resources documenting gay bars, activists and political protests before Stonewall, the Stonewall Riots, and after Stonewall up to 1973.  None of the sources are the definitive, but are sources that allow one to come to one's own conclusions.  The introduction to these works is valuable in itself.  He outlines the problems of examining these primary sources, and provides a listing of some secondary sources he believes are valuable.

The Stonewall Riot: A Documentary History 
by Marc Stein 
2019 
NYU Press 
5.0 / 5.0 

June 28,1969. A gay bar in Greenwich Village, NY, Stonewall Inn, was raided by the NYPD, claiming they did not have a liquor license, and used this as an opportunity to exercise their own prejudices and bigoted beliefs towards gay people. This started a riot.
This is a comprehensive and engaging resource of an important and pivotal event and the influence those actions have had since then. These 200 documents, taken from magazines, newspapers, media and gay guides and first-person accounts, share the deep emotions and interpretations of the Stonewall Riot.
Nearing itś 50th Anniversary, this is a timely, engaging and comprehensive resource. LGBTQ  and its supporters will love this!! I did.
Thanks to NYU Press and Marc Stein for sharing this e-book ARC for review.
#TheStonewallRiot   #NetGalley

A really important and interesting book, this is a comprehensive historic book with detailed transcripts of the events leading up to and around the Stonewall Riots. It is an essential reminder of how important Pride is and why we can never become complacent. The author has clearly done extensive research and many original documents are included although that is hard to read because of the formatting. In fact that is my only quibble is that it is really hard to read on kindle, I'm not sure if that is just the review copy that I received from Net Galley or if it is something that needs fixing before the book goes on sale.

This is an exhaustive look at what happened before Stonewall, during that time and afterward, through the eyes of the police, politicians, citizens, columnists and even the clergy. The bulk of this book is in the form of columns from "Mattachine", "The Ladder" and from the newspapers of the day, statements from police and citizens.

It's easy to overlook the activists, columnists and the everyday customers of bars and restaurants who resisted daily, when so much attention is focused on The Stonewall, but these regular citizens were the ones who came before the rioters at Stonewall. They are the ones who paved the way for Stonewall and they're the ones who started the resistance so that bars could stop paying the police and the Mafia for "protection", so they wouldn't be raided as often. 

This book looks at white v. black homosexuals, males v. females, lesbian invisibility, bars, businesses, demands of the community to the straight world, religion, anti-discrimination laws and how they changed over the years, psychology and psychiatry, the military and really every possible walk of life during the struggle for equality and inclusion.

The book is divided into basically three parts: before Stonewall, during Stonewall and after Stonewall. 

No detail is left out and the understanding of these decades is the purpose and the result of this book. Excellent for those who want to know to whole story and for scholars of this time in history.

Thorough ~ Well-Researched ~ Essential
tl; dr: One of the best books I've read about Stonewall

At the precipice of the 50th anniversary, American is both incredibly different from the culture of the 60s and sadly very similar. Stein creates a well-written book, balancing academic research with easy-to-read text. His premise is to lay out the evidence to allow the readers to make their decisions. I appreciate this approach because so much of our culture is based on siloed knowledge. In the end, I found myself with a deeper understanding of Stonewall, as not just the first moment of revolution, but situated in a transforming society. Stein's book is the best book of Stonewall that I have read.