Making Gay History

“This lively, engaging memoir by one of the earliest, major historians of US sexuality is a report from the trenches, a history of the struggle to create a history of sexuality, a personal history of political activism, the story of a smart boy from the Bronx who made himself into a pioneering, left, feminist, anti-racist gay, public intellectual.”—Jonathan Ned Katz, author of The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams“One of John D’Emilio’s great gifts is the ability to bring the large-scale transformations that are the heart of history to life. Now he’s done it with his own remarkable story. The scholarly, activist, and personal life of one of our greatest queer historians illuminates so much about the rise of queer activism and queer history in the last quarter of the twentieth century.”—Leila J. Rupp, author of Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Between Women

John D’Emilio is Emeritus Professor of History and Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. He is the author of numerous books, including Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood and The World Turned, both published by Duke University Press, as well as Queer Legacies.