In a New Century: Essays on Queer History, Politics, and Community Life

The daunting task of keeping the flame of post-Stonewall gay activism burning for a new generation eludes even formidable gay historian D’Emilio (Lost Prophet), a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Though well-crafted as always, his third collection of essays, transcribed lectures, and newspaper columns suffers from a scolding tone, as he implores readers to appreciate the importance of this era. However, the section “Doing History” showcases D’Emilio at his approachable, amiable best as he presents an invigoratingly unacademic view into what history reveals. If followed by anything as enlightening about GLBT community goals in a new era, it would have been a different book altogether, but instead columns written for Chicago’s Windy City Times on such topics as lesbian pulp fiction, the Mattachine Society, and Anita Bryant read more as filler. Frequently repetitive, focusing sometimes on D’Emilio’s own experiences as a community activist or repurposing research materials from Lost Prophet, the collection ends with a 2006 essay recycling familiar tropes on how marriage equality betrays the gay liberation ethos, encapsulating the missed opportunity here: how to recover relevance in a changing world. (May)