Barry explores the history of transness, not as one identity that has been around forever, but in the many forms, expressions, and labels it has taken over American history. This book is pragmatic in its framing, and brutally honest about the realiti...
Trans America: A Counter-History by Barry Reay
A crash course on queer history, made accessible as heck with super bright colors, pictures, and some gorgeous artwork. This book does a great job at making some of the more difficult ideas digestible, and makes some of the tougher pills of our histo...
Rainbow History Class: Your Guide Through Queer and Trans History
Based on the massively popular podcast, Bad Gays explores queer history through the lens of our most iconic villains, freaks, and outcasts. I specifically appreciate this perspective on the intersection of early queer movements and red-baiting in Col...
Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey, Ben Miller, Paperback
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski takes a wide look at American history through a queer lens, uncovering stories and details that often get left out. Bronski connects major events, like the World Wars and Rosie the Riveter, to t...
A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
Stonewall by Martin Duberman is less about the riot itself and more about the people and movements that surrounded it. Through detailed biographies of activists like Sylvia Rivera, Karla Jay, and Craig Rodwell, Duberman captures both the everyday str...
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising...
Indecent Advances by James Polchin examines how U.S. crime reporting between World War I and Stonewall created and reinforced stereotypes about queer people. Through cases that fueled the “gay criminal” narrative and the rise of the “gay panic” defen...
Indecent Advances by James Polchin
Romance
A queer slice of life story that just makes you feel all mushy gushy inside. This baby is a necessity to take a cozy break from all of the gut wrenching stories, both fiction and non, we suffer through today.
A Banh Mi for Two by Trinity Nguyen, Paperback
Bio/Biofics
Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace is part punk history, part brutally honest self-portrait. Grace doesn’t sugarcoat anything—her journal entries and reflections lay bare the highs and lows of life ...
Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout
This one is extra close to my heart, as Bessie is from my home city of New Haven. A coming of age story delving into the intersectionality of being BIPOC in the US, this story truly nails the experience of your body being politicized.
Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldívar, Hardcover
In 1957, Frank Kameny was fired from his job as a government astronomer after being accused of homosexuality, a common practice during the Lavender Scare.Kameny fought back, becoming a pioneering figure in the early gay rights movement. The Deviant's...
The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America
Educating Cishets
Lovely graphic novel mainly for educational purposes but with a sweet story to go along. Establishes a base level understanding of pronouns for the uninformed reader. This is definitely one to share with the boomers in your life
A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns
This books is COMPREHENSIVE. Of course you have questions… Heck WE still have questions! If you are looking for a clear, deep understanding of the transgender experience in all aspects of life, from dating to hormones to outright myth-busting, this b...
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Trans (But Were Afraid ...