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cranea653's review against another edition
4.0
This book establishes something absolutely crucial - that gay people have always existed and made valuable contributions to society. I do wish Streitmatter had gone into more detail; occasionally the chapters felt a little shallow. Even with those limitations, I learned a lot, and for that I am grateful.
lalulorlor's review against another edition
4.0
This book is wonderful, informative, and educational without being drawn out OE dry. It was lovely to read.
paracosm's review against another edition
3.0
This book was okay. Every chapter is a mini-biography of every couple. Listening to this is kinda like reading multiple entries of the same blog. It's formulaic but entertaining. I like that he doesn't gloss over anything and talks about the couples as people, who weren't perfect. At the end of the book he shares a small anecdote about him and his husband and I thought that was really sweet.
eringiglio's review against another edition
4.0
A fun read, breaking down the quieter contibutions that a number of same sex partners made to their more well known loved ones' careers. Unsurprisingly for me, I was totally delighted by the Jane Addams section in particular. The structure of the book means that each section is bite sized and self contained, which makes this a particularly good read to listen to while focusing on other tasks.
simlish's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't think this book could be boring, but it was. Highly formulaic, and not enough detail about each individual couple to engage me. I really liked the concept, and it was good to learn about some same sex couples through history that I hadn't known about -- this is definitely a solid overview of the couples it contains, and invites the reader to do further reading.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
A nonfiction look at 15 couples in American history part of an outlaw marriage. It is incredible that these people were able to do this, but they were also famous and people with money. I think that is what insulated them and allowed them the privilege to do this. People let wealthy and famous people do whatever they want really. It’s no wonder these are the people who could do this.
Walt Whitman, Gertrude Stein, Gretta Garbo, Aaron Copeland were a few of the people listed in this book.
Rodger Streitmatter does a great job here. He goes into their career and how they made themselves, how they met their partner and their outlaw marriage and how it worked for them. Some of them ended in decline, but most ended in death as most unions do. This was very fascinating to read actually. It was a little fact based and not as fleshed out as it could be, but it's so interesting to read these stories in a time when being gay was almost criminal.
Walt Whitman, Gertrude Stein, Gretta Garbo, Aaron Copeland were a few of the people listed in this book.
Rodger Streitmatter does a great job here. He goes into their career and how they made themselves, how they met their partner and their outlaw marriage and how it worked for them. Some of them ended in decline, but most ended in death as most unions do. This was very fascinating to read actually. It was a little fact based and not as fleshed out as it could be, but it's so interesting to read these stories in a time when being gay was almost criminal.
yoncassius's review against another edition
4.0
Despite the complaints about the book's repetitive nature and some grammar issues, I found this an enjoyable read.
Personally, I found the formulaic layout of each chapter a nice way of laying out lives that were sometimes very different from one another cohesively. Given that I read this book sporadically between breaks at work, it made it easy for me to remember what had happened previously.
While the grammar mistakes are noticeable and may prove irritating to some readers, for me they didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Personally, I found the formulaic layout of each chapter a nice way of laying out lives that were sometimes very different from one another cohesively. Given that I read this book sporadically between breaks at work, it made it easy for me to remember what had happened previously.
While the grammar mistakes are noticeable and may prove irritating to some readers, for me they didn't detract from my enjoyment.
thatpatti's review against another edition
4.0
I found this in my library's e-book database. I was looking for something immediately available, and this was the best looking thing I found. I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was like mini-biographies of some very interesting and important figures of 20th century art/writers/activism that were (for the most part) totally unfamiliar to me.
It was super interesting to see the common threads in the stories, and the large role partners played in their professional successes. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!
It was super interesting to see the common threads in the stories, and the large role partners played in their professional successes. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this!