Booklist Review
At a time when marriage equality is being championed and challenged, the publication of this resource on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities, communities, cultures, and movements in the U.S. could not be more timely. A carefully constructed entry list includes more than 500 entry subjects. A wide spectrum of subject areas is covered: people; politics; culture and the arts; academic disciplines and fields; identities, communities, and cultures; geographical locations; law and public policy; economics and labor; sex, sexuality, intimacy, and relationships; religion and spirituality; language, symbols, signs, and concepts; social life, issues, and institutions; and social, cultural, and political processes. More than 400 years of historical developments are chronicled. A-Z0 entries range from slightly less than a page to eight pages in length and include cross-references and sometimes substantial bibliographies. A directory of LGBT libraries and archives throughout the U.S and Canada, a directory of contributors with their primary institutional affiliations and the entries they prepared, and a comprehensive index conclude the set. Arab Americans, Class and class oppression, Gentrification, Native Americans, Republican Party, Sexual revolutions0 , and Visual art 0 are some of the subjects covered. Also here are biographical entries for more than 250 individuals, among them Josephine Baker, Hart Crane, David Hockney, Billie Jean King, Jerome Robbins, Billy Tipton, and Carl Van Vechten. Contributors have maintained a high level of scholarship throughout the set, and entries are characterized by evenhandedness. The encyclopedia succeeds in opening up for contemporary readers the complex history of LGBT life in the U.S. Garland's two-volume Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia0 (2000) might appear to be closely comparable. Readers are reminded, however, that significant differences exist between these two works--Garland includes separate volumes on lesbian histories and cultures and gay histories and cultures, its focus is on history and culture, and its scope is international. Libraries that own the Garland set will want, therefore, to make room for Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America 0 in their reference collections. It an exceptional work that should be useful for academic and public libraries. General readers, students, researchers, and members of the LGBT\b \b0 communities alike will find this to be a most welcome resource. -- RBB Copyright 2004 Booklist
Choice Review
The initial problem with this mammoth work is its title; the work really covers only the US, not the Americas. Stein, one of the foremost gay historians in the US, has an impressive track record trying to bring gay history into the mainstream while promoting its separate development. The encyclopedia has more than 500 signed entries, each with a bibliography; many also have illustrations, of which there are over 200--photographs, reproductions of posters, and the like. Cross-references and index are thorough. See references would be useful; it would help to be able to look up "Dignity" and find a see reference instead of having to go to the index (in another volume) to find it under "Churches and Catholicism." The introduction is useful, as is the chronology at the beginning. Some entries seem more sociological than historical (e.g., "bears," "camp," "feminism"). Sidebars that highlight particular issues ("lesbians in the AIDS action community") or that contain an excerpt from an author's work are a bonus, and the appendix on gay and lesbian archives of the US and Canada is a nice finishing touch. One wonders about the continued usefulness of such encyclopedias. Would it not have been more productive to merge this work with the online resource glbtq (CH, Sep'03)? ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels. S. J. Stillwell Jr. University of Texas at Arlington
Library Journal Review
This invaluable work isn't just a fascinating read; it goes a long way toward alleviating the dearth of basic resources in the burgeoning field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) studies. Stein (history, York Univ.; City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves) has compiled more than 500 topical and biographical entries on the major events, personalities, places, and themes in a queer reading of more than 400 years of U.S. history. Alphabetically arranged and varying in length from a few paragraphs to several pages, the generally well-written entries are accessible enough for high school and college students new to the subject but sufficiently solid to serve as a departure point for scholarly research. Each entry includes a bibliography and See also references. Also included are a cross-referenced historical chronology, a directory of repositories of LGBT materials in the United States and Canada, a systematic outline of contents that groups all entries thematically, and a detailed index. One might cavil that the choice of entries, while emphasizing broad appeal, seems somewhat arbitrary, that some show business performers and icons (e.g., Rock Hudson, James Dean, Judy Garland) receive only cursory examination under broad subjects such as "Actors and Actresses," and that the odd entry is off the mark (Blanche Wiesen Cook's discussion of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok comes across as a defensive apologia rather than reasoned research). But these drawbacks do not seriously detract from the most significant and comprehensive reference work in this field since the fine Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies, edited by Timothy Murphy, was published in 2000. An essential purchase for any library serving LGBT researchers or readers.-Richard J. Violette, Special Libs. Cataloging, Victoria, B.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
