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Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950
by Eli Erlick
Explore the trailblazing lives of 30 trans people who radically change everything you've been told about transgender history.
Highlighting influential individuals from 1850-1950 who are all but unknown today, Eli Erlick shares 30 remarkable stories from romance to rebellion and mystery to murder. These narratives chronicle the grit, joy, and survival of trans people long before gender became an everyday term.
Organized into 4 parts paralleling today's controversies over gender identity (kids, activists, workers, and athletes), Before Gender introduces figures whose forgotten stories transform the discussion
Bold and visionary, Erlick's debut uncovers these lost stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.
"Brilliant ... [A]n essential and eye-opening paradigm shift." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Erlick powerfully—and compellingly—argues that it's not the existence of transgender people that's new; what's new is the anxiety around them." —Library Journal
"[A] riveting, compassionate collection of life stories ... The historical biographies collected in Before Gender show that, while society's language about gender has changed, trans people have always been part of communities around the world—and that it's crucial to get to know their stories." —Foreword Reviews
"I've been researching transgender history for a long time, and many of these stories are new to me. What an eye-opening read, crisply written, on such a timely topic." —Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution
"With this tour de force history of thirty trans people from 1850 to 1950, Eli Erlick shows us a whole new side to trans narratives that both informs and entertains." —Riki Wilchins, author of Queer Theory/Gender Theory
This information about Before Gender was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Eli Erlick is an internationally acclaimed activist, author, and educator. In 2011, she founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students. In the years that followed, Erlick has been at the forefront of social justice issues through her research, organizing, and cultural criticism. Blending innovative research with cutting-edge activism, she undertook her doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Erlick's work and writing have been featured in hundreds of outlets including The New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post. She lives in New York City, where she continues to fight for trans liberation. You can learn more about her work at www.elierlick.com.
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