QUEERS IN HISTORY

Stern presents an extensive reference work compiling short biographies of notable queer figures throughout time.

“As you turn the pages,” writes actor Ian McKellen in this queer encyclopedia’s foreword, “you may gasp ‘I never knew!’ and ‘Surely not’ and ‘Listen to this!’” The author’s compilation (which runs to more than 700 pages) of short biographies certainly offers plenty of surprises, as McKellen suggests. The sheer number of names that Stern has amassed is already an impressive feat, but the book’s most intriguing aspect for readers curious about queer history will be the specific angle that the author brings to each short description. In every entry, he strives to bring out how the contours of these figures’ private lives shaped their public work. This new 2025 edition represents the 32nd anniversary of Stern’s first publication, which was made available on diskette and later on CD-ROM in 1993. The current update covers more than 5000 years of history while staying relevant to contemporary cultural discourse by including more trans figures omitted from previous editions. Organized alphabetically, with lengths ranging from short paragraphs to a few pages, Stern’s profiles focus on reporting basic facts. Nearly every entry includes a source for further reading, providing invaluable jumping-off points for students or anyone researching queer literature. Thumbing through the pages, famous names perhaps not immediately associated with queer culture, like actress Gillian Anderson (who has publicly confirmed her bisexuality) or the 19th-century Sioux leader Sitting Bull (one of his wives was a Two-Spirit man), jump off the page. Throughout the economical bios of hundreds of artists, politicians, choreographers, journalists, film producers, and so on that the author has researched, fascinating narratives of love, discrimination, and resistance come through in his brief descriptions. Stern’s work is first and foremost a research document, but readers may find themselves reading this encyclopedia as if it were an epic novel.

A remarkable queer history resource offering plenty of engaging, unexpected stories.