The Stonewall Riots

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.

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

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.