general interest NE W IN PA PERB ACK
NE W IN PA PERB ACK
Cherry Grove, Fire Island
Bending toward Justice
Sixty Years in America’s First Gay and Lesbian Town
The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy
esther newton
gary may With a new Preface
With a new Preface
“May’s eminently readable book is
“One of the 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Nonfiction books.”—The Advocate
particularly timely . . . [and] contains a
“This perceptive and engaging book
that led to the enactment of the 1965
wealth of information about the events reconstructs the extraordinary, campy, ESTHER NEW TON
Cherry Grove,
FIRE ISLAND
W IT H A NE W PREFACE
S I X T Y Y E A R S I N A M E R I C A’ S F I R S T G AY A N D L E S B I A N T O W N
and sometimes heartbreaking his-
statute—and about the dedication and
gary m ay
heroism of little-known participants
BENDING
in the events that came to national
1930s in astonishing detail. But it also offers a broader analysis of the class,
JUSTICE
tory of gays on Fire Island since the
racial, ethnic, and gender divisions in the lesbian and gay world and of the
T O WA R D
The Voting Rights Act and the Transformation of American Democracy
attention in 1964 and 1965.”—JUSTICE
JOHN PAUL STEVENS , The New York Review of Books
with a new preface
“By coincidence, the very weekend
profound ways in which gay culture has changed in the last half-century
before the Supreme Court’s decision
that is sure to be pondered and
disemboweled [the Voting Rights Act], I had finished reading this masterful
debated for years to come.”—GEORGE
CHAUNCEY, author of Gay New York
new account of the events leading up to its passage. . . . You will not find in one volume a more compelling story of the heroic men and women who
“Newton shines, weaving stunning anecdotes of violence and humiliations
struggled for the right to vote, or a more cinematic rendering of the political
among her descriptions of fabulous parties and sex. . . . Her empathy
battle to enact the law, or a more succinct telling of the long campaign to
conveys the enormous integrity of people whose most radical gesture
subvert it. . . . [Gary May] has written a book that could change this country
was to be fabulous in the face of hate.”—Village Voice
again, if every citizen read it.”—BILL MOYERS , Moyers and Company
“Life at the Grove is always viewed through the prism of history, showing how such events as the Great Depression, World War II, McCarthyism and, of course, the 1969 Stonewall riots, which marked the beginning of the modern gay and lesbian rights movement, affected gay Grovers. That
A vivid and fast-paced history, Gary May’s Bending toward Justice offers a dramatic account of the birth and precarious life of the
attention, and [Newton’s] obvious affection for her subject—and subjects—
1965 Voting Rights Act. It is an extraordinary story of the intimida-
propels the book effortlessly through the decades.”—Boston Globe
tion and murder of courageous activists who struggled to ensure that all Americans would be able to exercise their right to vote. May outlines the divisions within the Civil Rights Movement,
Esther Newton is currently Term Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan, and Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Kempner Distinguished Professor at Purchase College, SUNY. She is the author of Margaret Mead Made Me Gay: Personal Essays, Public Ideas, published by Duke University Press, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America, coauthor of Womenfriends: A Soap Opera, and coeditor of Amazon Expedition: A Lesbian Feminist Anthology.
describes the relationship between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr., and captures the congressional politics of the 1960s. Bending toward Justice is especially timely, given that the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 invalidated a key section of the Voting Rights Act. As May shows, the fight for voting rights is by no means over.
Gary May is Professor of History at the University of Delaware. He is the author of The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo.
G AY & L E S B I A N S T U D I E S/A N T H R O P O L O GY/A M E R I C A N S T U D I E S
U.S. HISTORY
Available 424 pages, 21 illustrations
December 344 pages, 18 illustrations
paper, 978–0–8223–5553–3, $24.95/£15.99
paper, 978–0–8223–5927–2, $23.95tr/£15.99
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