Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers
Author Lillian Faderman
Subject History of lesbianism
Publisher Columbia University Press
Publication date
 1991
Pages 373 pp.
ISBN 978-0-231-07488-9
OCLC 22906565

Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America is a non-fiction book by Lillian Faderman chronicling lesbian life in the 20th century. In 1992, it won the Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction[1] and was selected as the "Editor's Choice" at the Lambda Literary Awards.[2] In September 2011, Ms. magazine ranked the book 99th on its list of the top 100 feminist non-fiction books.[3]

The book describes lesbian history as a pattern of alternately tolerant and intolerant decades for American lesbians between 1900 and 1960, as well as the improvements and adverse developments that the author perceives to have taken place since the 1960s.[4]

Reception

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, novelist Francine Prose described Faderman's book as "full of facts and wonderful details that readers may not have encountered, things that are a pleasure to learn and that seem valuable to know."[5] In The Washington Post, Susan Brownmiller called the book "a remarkable social history" that "attains the depth and evenhandedness of a scholarly classic".[6] Toni McNaron wrote in the Journal of the History of the Behavior Science that "Faderman's ability to paint such a detailed and vivid picture of conditions in lesbian culture makes this book accessible to a general reading audience." [7] Kath Weston says in her Signs review, "I have waited years for a book on lesbians or gay men to devote as much attention to class as Faderman has done in this volume."[8]

References

  1. ↑ Stonewall Book Awards List (accessed 2012-05-18)
  2. ↑ 4th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (accessed 2012-05-18)
  3. ↑ "Top 100 Feminist Non-Fiction Countdown: 100-91", Ms., September 30, 2011.
  4. ↑ Nina Burleigh, "In A Kinder, Gentler Era, Lesbians Had A Different Acceptance", Chicago Tribune, October 13, 1991.
  5. ↑ Francine Prose, "Women Without Men : Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America, By Lillian Faderman", Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1991.
  6. ↑ Susan Brownmiller, "Women in Love", The Washington Post, June 23, 1991. Copy available here from HighBeam Research (subscription required).
  7. ↑ McNaron, Toni, "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America" (Book review) Journal of the History of Behavior Sciences, Vol 31, October 1995. abstract available subscription required
  8. ↑ Weston, K. (1993). Book reviews. Signs: Journal Of Women In Culture & Society, 19(1), 235.
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