An engaging study that highlights the need for intersectional awareness in the LGBTQ+ community.
Seeing mavericks “for who they really are.”
Story, a University of Louisville scholar, examines how racism, misogyny, and transphobia have worked together to co-opt queer culture and suppress true LGBTQ+ solidarity. After the Stonewall riots of 1969, the rainbow flag has come to symbolize the diversity of the queer community—and that the communities within the whole “exist as unified fronts in the face of gender and sexual tyranny.” Drawing on popular culture, research, and her own experiences as a queer Black feminist/theorist, Story argues that LGBTQ+ communities “struggle with the same repugnant beliefs” that have led mainstream society to oppress LGBTQ+ people of color. She begins by recalling that her shock on coming out in her teens as a lesbian was not the lack of acceptance but that fellow sexual minorities could also be racist and/or misogynistic. Story traces these tensions to two roots. The first preceded Stonewall and came from the white gay and lesbian activist movements that lacked “insight when it came to understanding systems of [racial, gendered, and economic] domination in intersectional ways.” The second came from later indoctrination in neoliberal thought, especially as it emerged in the 1980s. The end result was the creation of a “politically neutered and socially compliant” queer person who valorized homonormativity and consumption over diversity and community. Yet resistance—especially among queer people of color—has also existed. Reality TV shows like Legendary, for example, have depicted Black and Latinx gay/transgender ball scene “families,” established to offer safe havens from (white supremacist) gay and straight worlds. While education is important to raising awareness about the intersectionality of oppression, Story argues that refusing “pinkwashed” racist, misogynist, and transphobic corporate support for Pride festivals is also key. Queer and/or gender studies scholars and LGBTQ+ activists will find this a compelling and well-articulated book of special interest.
An engaging study that highlights the need for intersectional awareness in the LGBTQ+ community.Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9780807004654
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
