We Walk Alone

Synopsis

The 1950s queer-life groundbreaker by &“a literary pioneer . . . [who] forever changed perceptions of same-sex love and desire&” (Advocate.com). Ann Aldrich flung a provocative assertion at her readers in 1955 when she opened her landmark account of lesbian life in New York City by saying this book was the &“result of fifteen years of participation in society as a female homosexual.&” After the release of We Walk Alone, Aldrich became both a heroine and a scapegoat in some of the period&’s most contentious public debates over what exactly &“lesbian culture&” was. Her non-fiction pulp literally transformed the landscape overnight, and &“the effect on women was electric. From every corner of creation, they wrote wrenching letters of relief and gratitude&” (Ann Bannon, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles). Part Kinsey-esque portraits of real people, part you-are-there reports on the scene in bars and offices and at clubs and house parties, We Walk Alone is revealing and compelling composite of an alienated yet amazingly self-aware community—one that Aldrich would revisit three years later in We, Too, Must Love. Today, &“these essential cultural artifacts&” (UTNE Magazine), as Stephanie Foote explains in her afterword, are &“as rich and conflicted a look at the formation of lesbian urban culture as that of any contemporary queer historian.&”

Copyright:

1955

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

202 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781558619333

Related ISBNs:

9781558615250

Publisher:

The Feminist Press at CUNY

Date of Addition:

12/16/23

Copyrighted By:

Marijane Meaker, Ann Aldrich, Stephanie Foote

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender, Social Studies

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Introduction by:

Marijane Meaker