hankycode magazine is a print and digital publication dedicated to sharing queer stories.

One of my favorite things to do is read. I read extensively about LGBTQ+ history, as well as fiction and nonfiction books on topics that interest me. Over the years, I’ve read a wide variety of queer history books, some read like PhD theses, some sociological research, some oral histories, and everything in between. Today, I want to share three of my favorite queer history books and why I recommend everyone read them.

Let The Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman

What impresses me most about this book is its incredible comprehensiveness. I’ve read a lot about ACT UP and the pivotal role they played in the AIDS crisis, but if I could recommend any book about it, it would be this one.

The book is broken into four books—book one is called ‘political foundations,’ book two is titled ‘art in the service of change,’ book three looks at ‘creating the world you need to survive,’ and book four is titled ‘desperation.’

This isn’t just a historical book but a guide for today’s activists. It shows what worked and what didn’t; in many ways, it becomes a manual for us to follow today.

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan

The book’s introduction includes an incredibly poignant statement, “Every true story starts in the middle, at the somewhat arbitrary point that the storyteller has chosen. But it is possible, in the sweep of history, to pick out moments that are emblematic, turning points after which something is definitely there, where it may or may not have been before.” That’s exactly what this compelling book does.

Each chapter explores a specific period in Brooklyn’s rich history, beginning with 1855-1883, then 1883-1910, 1910-1920, 1920-1930, 1930-1940, 1940-1945, and ending with 1945-1969. It’s an incredible chronicle, digging deep into historical records to paint a picture of an underground queer scene in Brooklyn in a time when many thought there was none.

As the back of the book says, “Not only has Brooklyn always lived in the shadow of queer Manhattan neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village and Harlem, but there has also been a systematic erasure of its queer history–a great forgetting.” If there has been a ‘great forgetting,’ this book truly is the ‘great remembering.’

Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion by Eleanor Medhurst

I’ve loved Medhurst’s writing since her work on ‘Dressing Dykes,’ a lesbian fashion history blog. This book is an incredible masterpiece. The introduction includes a powerful statement about history and fashion, saying, “I hope that it helps even one person feel part of something bigger, the heirlooms of lesbian history nestled in their own wardrobes and draped over their shoulders.”

This book is broken into five parts: Part One, ‘We Were Always Here,’ Part Two, ‘Paris to Harlem: the lesbian 1920s,’ Part Three, A Butch/Femme Interlude,’ Part Four, ‘Miraculously Masculinity,’ and Part Five, ‘Lesbian Politics, Political Lesbians.’ From female husbands and male impersonation to 1910s Japan, British Vogue, the Harlem Renaissance, and everything in between, this book masterfully tells the history of lesbian fashion, and not just fashion, but what that fashion tells us about historical lesbians in general. As part one says, “when our bodies, sexualities, and loves are private, it is our clothes that are public.”