Queer Public History – Essays on Scholarly Activism

"In this reflective collection of essays, queer historian Marc Stein intimately contextualizes his commitment to making academic work relevant to the public. Best known as a historian of constitutional law, Stein's work here on the Supreme Court's betrayal of LGBT immigrants, on the closeting of Justice Abe Fortas, and on pre-Stonewall rebellions is surprising and gripping. A representative of the first generation of university professors to be out in their work from the start of their careers, Stein honors his mentors and provides a front seat social history of the experiences of the early wave of queer academics, their contradictions and struggles. Personal and vulnerable."--Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993

"These brilliant, brave essays present original, quality queer public history and teach how to do that. They're the work of a historian long dedicated to reaching a wide, general audience and maintaining the highest scholarly standards."--Jonathan Ned Katz, Founder, Director, OutHistory.org

"It's hard to know what historical scholarship would look like today without queer history, and even harder to imagine how either would have evolved without Marc Stein's queer vision for what history can and should do. An activist intellectual, Stein has devoted his career to the rigorous, publicly engaged scholarship these essays describe. Together they reflect on not just a generation's hard-fought journey from community-based research to the university lecture hall but on queer history as an inherently publicly engaged and useful practice whose vitality depends on nurturing its connection to an ever-changing community."--Claire Potter, Professor of History, The New School for Social Research

"Authored by one of the foremost thinkers in LGBTQ studies, this book offers an intimate look at the many faces of queer public history and practice. Through poignant storytelling, memoir, reflection, research, and analysis, Stein reveals the important and necessary activist and community-based work that is inextricably linked to the recovery of LGBTQ pasts."--Julio Capó Jr., author of Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940