Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Mairi

This book is, as its subtitle states, a history of lesbian life in twentieth century America, and it's fascinating- it begins with the often contradictory nature of romantic friendships between educated women at the turn of the century and goes up to the Gay Power movement of the 1980s. Along the way, it makes stops for things such as the WASPs of World War II and the cheap paperbacks of the 1950s, from which the book takes its title. That latter bit, incidentally, was easily my favorite part of the book, especially because Faderman included photographs of the covers.

I love history, be it military, social, cultural, or political, and because I also love reading I've read a lot of history books in my life. Lillian Faderman writes them exactly the way I like them- full of humorous anecdotes and sly remarks. I'm not sure whether or not you need to be gay to appreciate this book, but I don't think so.

That is to say, I would highly recommend this book to older teens- younger teens, probably not, as it's rather dense.