It is refreshing to see someone attempting something approaching an actual popular history of gay people in America rather than the constantly invoked mythologies and distortions that usually pass for it.

This is an accessible book intended for the average reader, and if it gets widely read it could be a boon to rectifying the distorted picture American gay people have of their past. The bizarre idea that there was no such thing as being "out" prior to the Stonewall events and that there was no substantial gay subculture prior to then - vibrantly lived in the face of the overwhelmingly negative social environment - can finally be pitched into the waste basket where it belongs. The events surrounding the Stonewall raid opened up the eyes of many closeted men and women to the fact that thousands of gay men and women had already created a thriving subculture, and that given the extreme liberal drift in late 60s and early 70s it was safe to come out and participate in it if you dared.

An excellent, well written, researched and fascinating book that chronicles the life of homosexuals through the 20th Centrury. I can't imagine a book that could ever top this book for insight, accuracy and profoundity. I wish everyone--gay or straight--would read this.

This book has been one of the best history books I have ever read. It is not only complete, but also well written in a very clear style which allowed a non-native english speaker like me to read it without much difficulty.
"The other side of silence" helped me understand the developments of the gay movement in the US, which give us many clues to understand its evolution in other parts of the world.
But I want to stress one particular aspect: Loughery's book is an excellent work of American history. As a non-US citizen, I have learnt a great deal about the evolution of American society in the 20th century. Explaining gay people's lives in the fifties, we get a clear picture of those rather somber postwar years in which suspicion seemed to be the rule. Then, we witness the ideological maelstrom of the 60s and 70s, a manifestation of which was the gay liberation movement in its openly militant version (which is not the birth of this movement, Loughery makes it very clear). Finally we are introduced to new right reaction, new conservatism, and AIDS crisis.
It is precisely its being an excellent book of American History which makes it a brilliant introduction to gay US history. Thanks to this book I have been able to better understand the movements which take place within American society. Those movements which often cause perplexity to a European mind, when confronted to the paradoxical coexistence of sodomy laws, far right influence, on one side, and one of the most active gay communities in the world, on the other.

Dr. Pope is one of my professor's, and he is certainly correct in his evaluation of this book! It makes for excellent leisurely reading, as well as scholarly reading.

While searching for texts for a class I teach called International Short Stories, I came across and ordered this book, along with two others, on the basis of stories and writers in this book I knew I wanted to use. I got far more than I expected. This book is proof that an editor can make an incredible difference. Rather than select obvious stories, ones continually anthologized, John Loughery has chosen stories for their ability to startle a reader with subject matter, approach, and excellence of writing. I found stories here which left me refreshed simply because they were the stories I hoped were out there. Beautiful story-telling, challenging ideas, brightness everywhere. I would recommend this book to any reader, but would especially draw the attention of teachers of courses like International Short Story, or general fiction appreciation courses. It doesn't leave you complacent.

CONTEMPORARY STORIES OF AMERICAN YOUTH

Young Americans "FIRST SIGHTINS" (289 pages. Edited by John Loughery $ 11.95.) Is a drama book that presents twenty stories, with protagonists aged three to eighteen ears old, by such authors as John Updike, Alice Walker, Genero Gonzales and Carson McCullers. If you reed the whole book you can obviously see that the stories take you step by step through a certain period. In addition, I think that they have experienced these stories through a dream or real life. Here is a sample of the "Stoned boy". "His rifle caught on the wire and he jerked at it. The air was rocked by the sound of the shot. Feeling foolish, he lifted his face, baring it to an expected shower of derision from his brother. But Eugie did not turn around. Instead, from hi crouching position, he fell to his knees and then pitched forward onto his face. The ducks rose up crying from the lake, cleared the mountain background and beat away northward across the pale sky." So we have these two brothers (9 and 15) going hunting with out a permission during the night. In addition, the younger boy shoots him self as you can see here above. The older brother gets so much shock that he just runs home and goes to sleep. The morning after Arnold goes down to eat breakfast and his parents ask him where Eguie is, and...... The good thing about reading short stories book is that you never get bored. Moreover, does this one certainly fall under that category. When you read it you kinda start remembering some moments in your own childhood and think about them. That gives you a whole new look at your embarrassing moments of life and you find out that you actually learned something from it. So yes I recommend this book to those who like drama and stories that make you think about life.