Why read The Queerness of Home?

Book cover of The Queerness of Home: Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of Domesticity after World War II

Book description

Vider uncovers how LGBTQ people reshaped domestic life in the postwar United States.

From the Stonewall riots to the protests of ACT UP, histories of queer and trans politics have almost exclusively centered on public activism. In The Queerness of Home, Stephen Vider turns the focus inward, showing that the…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Queerness of Home as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Donna J. Drucker

Author

While many books on LGBTQ+ history focus on public activism, Vider turns attention to how queer people in the post-World War II era formed homes, partnerships, and community.

For example, groups like the AIDS Action Committee in Boston in the 1980s formed buddy programs for people living with AIDS and volunteer caregivers. Caregivers could live with their buddies or visit them, providing practical assistance as well as companionship, connectedness, and a sense of belonging.

The Queerness of Home looks at the quieter but no less political and impactful side of queer life from the late 1940s through the 1980s, showing…

From Donna's list on The best books on the history of sexuality in modernity.