Stonewall

A powerful firsthand account of the Stonewall riots and the birth of the modern gay rights movement ?We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths?that all of us are created equal?is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.? ?President Obama, 2013 Inaugural Address ? In the summer of 1969, the Stonewall Inn, one of the few places where gay men could gather, was a mafia-run unlicensed bar in New York City?s Greenwich Village. An unforeseen raid on the night of June 28 by federal agents ignited the now-famous five days of Stonewall riots that kindled the nation?s gay rights movement. Expertly weaving personal, eyewitness accounts of the riots, Martin Duberman?s Stonewall is an engrossing look at how six individuals, from distinctly different backgrounds, helped bring political and social awakening to the gay liberation movement.