John D'Emilio (born September 21, 1948)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

John D'Emilio (born 1948, New York City) is a professor of history and of women's and gender studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1982, where his advisor was William Leuchtenburg. A Guggenheim fellow in 1998 and National Endowment for the Humanities fellow in 1997, he served as Director of the Policy Institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1995 to 1997.

D'Emilio was awarded the Stonewall Book Award in 1984 for his most widely cited book, Sexual politics, sexual communities, which is considered the definitive history of the U.S. homophile movement from 1940 to 1970. His biography of the civil-rights leader Bayard Rustin, Lost prophet: Bayard Rustin and the quest for peace and justice in America, won the Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction in 2004. He was the 2005 recipient of the Brudner Prize at Yale University.

His and Estelle Freedman's book Intimate matters: A history of sexuality in America was cited in Justice Anthony Kennedy's opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 American Supreme Court case overturning all remaining anti-sodomy laws.


John D'Emilio by Robert Giard

American photographer Robert Giard is renowned for his portraits of American poets and writers; his particular focus was on gay and lesbian writers. Some of his photographs of the American gay and lesbian literary community appear in his groundbreaking book Particular Voices: Portraits of Gay and Lesbian Writers, published by MIT Press in 1997. Giard’s stated mission was to define the literary history and cultural identity of gays and lesbians for the mainstream of American society, which perceived them as disparate, marginal individuals possessing neither. In all, he photographed more than 600 writers. (http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/giard.html)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D%27Emilio

Further Readings:

Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: Second Edition by John D'Emilio
Paperback: 286 pages
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; Second Edition edition (October 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226142671
ISBN-13: 978-0226142678
Amazon: Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities

With thorough documentation of the oppression of homosexuals and biographical sketches of the lesbian and gay heroes who helped the contemporary gay culture to emerge, Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities supplies the definitive analysis of the homophile movement in the U.S. from 1940 to 1970. John D'Emilio's new preface and afterword examine the conditions that shaped the book and the growth of gay and lesbian historical literature.

"How many students of American political culture know that during the McCarthy era more people lost their jobs for being alleged homosexuals than for being Communists? . . . These facts are part of the heretofore obscure history of homosexuality in America—a history that John D'Emilio thoroughly documents in this important book."—George DeStefano, Nation

"John D'Emilio provides homosexual political struggles with something that every movement requires—a sympathetic history rendered in a dispassionate voice."—New York Times Book Review

"A milestone in the history of the American gay movement."—Rudy Kikel, Boston Globe

Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America by John D'Emilio & Estelle B. Freedman
Paperback: 466 pages
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 2nd edition (February 28, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226142647
ISBN-13: 978-0226142647
Amazon: Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America

The first full length study of the history of sexuality in America, Intimate Matters offers trenchant insights into the sexual behavior of Americans, from colonial times to today. D'Emilio and Freedman give us a deeper understanding of how sexuality has dramatically influenced politics and culture throughout our history.

"The book John D'Emilio co-wrote with Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, was cited by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy when, writing for a majority of court on July 26, he and his colleagues struck down a Texas law criminalizing sodomy. The decision was widely hailed as a victory for gay rights—and it derived in part, according to Kennedy's written comments, from the information he gleaned from D'Emilio's book, which traces the history of American perspectives on sexual relationships from the nation's founding through the present day. The justice mentioned Intimate Matters specifically in the court's decision."—Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune

"Fascinating. . . . [D'Emilio and Freedman] marshall their material to chart a gradual but decisive shift in the way Americans have understood sex and its meaning in their lives." —Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times Book Review

"With comprehensiveness and care . . . D'Emilio and Freedman have surveyed the sexual patterns for an entire nation across four centuries." —Martin Bauml Duberman, Nation

"Intimate Matters is comprehensive, meticulous and intelligent." —Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

"This book is remarkable. . . . [Intimate Matters] is bound to become the definitive survey of American sexual history for years to come." —Roy Porter, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University by John D'Emilio
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Routledge (August 14, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0415905109
ISBN-13: 978-0415905107
Amazon: Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University

Combining historical and political analysis with autobiography and memoir, Making Trouble brings together the essays of John D'Emilio, a pioneering gay historian and long-time movement activist. Written over a period of almost twenty years, these essays provide a unique exploration of the history of gay life since World War II, describe the courage and accomplishments of gay and lesbian activists, and survey the vast changes that their movement for equality has had on American society, politics, and the university.

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices