Hoo boy. I want to start this off by first acknowledging the important work Berube did in this book; this book was definitely groundbreaking when it was published, and importantly, legitimized the service of gay and lesbian veterans of World War II. Berube's work here also served a materially political purpose, which is something that many academics cannot say.

That being said, if you, like me, are suspicious at best of the citizen-soldier construct, this book can be difficult to get through. I found myself drowning in homo-nationalism so frequently that I had to put the book aside for weeks at a time. (You'll notice it took me ~six months to finish it, and that wasn't just because grad school got in the way.) The introduction to Berube's My Desire for History gives some context for his need to honor these veterans this way, but it still was difficult to grapple with as a reader who might have appreciated a little more nuanced look into the service of these individuals.

The best parts of the book for me were those centering around lesbian women in the military--they were mostly free from the horrifying culture of masculinity that Berube described with gay men serving, and so I enjoyed them much more. I will, as always in books like this, point out that though Berube pays lip service to bisexual and transgender people in the text, their actual appearances are minimal at best (which is to say that some of the folks interviewed or talked about might have identified as bisexual, though Berube is not explicit in identifying any,) and, in the case of transgender people in particular, are wholly absent (which is really interesting, given the rich history of particularly transgender people serving in the military.) Though I understand that wasn't Berube's intention per se, I am going to note it for potential readers.

A life-changing book for gay people who think they have no history. Although it focuses almost exclusively on gay men (with good reason, and Chauncey acknowledges that reason,) and only looks at New York City, Chauncey masterfully strips apart dominant narratives about the history of sexuality and explores the nuances of masculinity at the turn of the century. My primary complaint is that communities of color are not as present as they could have been; although Chauncey devotes some space to Black men and women in the section about Harlem, that constitutes half a chapter, with no real acknowledgement as to the gap he's left behind.

Regardless, this book is life-changing and definitely necessary for those interested in the history of sexuality in general, and of gay male history in particular. The notes alone may also be worth a serious look for those less interested in gay men--the sources he draws from also cover urban history, some Black history, the history of sex work, women's history, and lesbian history.

Just as solid a read as you've heard from everyone else! Chernow is so detailed in his work, and treats every part of Hamilton's life with such care. Drawing attention to Eliza Hamilton is also probably the greatest contribution to the historiography--and I don't think I'm biased in this. I would like to revisit it again at some point when I have more time and read it more straight through--I read it in tiny chunks over probably about five or nearly six months, and that really impacted how I saw the book, but once I got into it, I really got into it and blew through chapters. But it's a very interesting biography that treats Hamilton with care while acknowledging the iffy parts about him, and is obviously a required read if you love the musical!

This book was incredible. The history was woven in so neatly, but the agency and depth that Anderson offers Isabel makes this book the most incredible book I have read in the past year.

A solid book, with some interesting essays and some more disappointing ones (the essay authored by Judith Butler is surprisingly boring, even though the language used is perfectly accessible; I'm also uncomfortable with her insertion of herself in what I see as a trans community issue, and her lack of substantive conclusion I think really highlights that.) The most thought-provoking essay for me was probably Jennifer L. Levi and Bennett H. Klein's "Pursuing Protection for Transgender People through Disability Laws," which manages to function both as a fascinating exploration of the topic as well as a sort of basic primer on disability protection laws. Also notable is Shannon Price Minter's "Do Transsexuals Dream of Gay Rights? Getting Real about Transgender Inclusion," and not just for the incredible title--it does a great job of summarizing historical exploration of the connection between gay and lesbian individuals and gender variance.

So right off the bat: I finished this ~500 page book in a single day, which is something I have not done for a very, very long time. The book snatched me right up, and as frustrating as I sometimes found Monty (which was, I'm sure, absolutely intentional!) I absolutely had to know what was going to happen to him at each stage of the book. I really loved the entire thing, and all of the characters are so fleshed out and well done, I'm just in awe. What an incredible addition to the world of historical fiction! I want a lot more books just like it.

So this was closer to like a 4.5 for me, and I'd also add that me not giving it a full five stars has a lot to do with the fact that my reading of the book was sort of unfortunately chopped up because of library return policies (which is my fault, not the library's!) But this book was such a rich world that I'm excited to explore more; I really felt immersed in it, and think Leckie did an amazing job conveying this experience that is in a lot of ways totally alien. I also think that the plot is so incredibly- how to articulate this. I really think that what she's set up is incredible because it's so not easy, and especially for Breq, there are things that are just out of her power even as much as they frustrated me. It's a sort of main character/hero that's unlike anything else I've encountered before, and it really challenged me as a reader in my reactions and understandings of the character, and how I felt about those actions over the course of the book. So, so impressed with that part of the storytelling, honestly.

I also wanna address the gender issue bc I think that was the reason I read this book in the first place (in addition to it being recommended to me by about 10,000 people): this book challenged my sense of gender so, so well; I was constantly reminding myself that despite the pronouns, I shouldn't be assuming the gender of the characters, and then doublechecking that assumption and going "no it's just that gender is fake" and that was really challenging but also exhilarating and exciting as a reader??? So like MORE OF THIS IN ALL GENRES OF FICTION PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Overall I really really did like this book, and I am looking forward to more of this world and all of its intrigues!

Just an incredible piece of writing; LaCapra is able to take the conversations from his field and apply them writ large to the study of history, and he has so many insightful things to say about trauma, acting out, working through, and how each should be of deep concern to historians. The titular essay honestly should be required reading for all folks studying history--he does a great job of boiling down the field's major arguments while maintaining room for nuance within them. An incredible book, and one I will definitely return to again and again.

This was like an overall decent book, though it felt like SO MUCH crammed into one volume; I don't know if I'm just out of practice with these long fantasy books or my life just no longer accommodates them as easily as it once did, but the first third of this felt like a slog through no real fault of the book itself. The last 150ish pages went by pretty quickly by comparison.

I don't know that I feel compelled to really return to this world at this stage, but it was a solid read for sure, and folks who like high fantasy and want more stuff with women in the sort of typical tropes will definitely enjoy this.