Book Review: The Deviant's War

Rise and shine, pornies. I hope you are feeling good today. I know I've been away for a long time, again for health reasons, and I just hope to get things better. However, there's a book I've been reading for a long time as well, more than a year, to be honest, but that you need to know about if not already: The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, by Eric Cervini. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy!

• Print Length: 512 pages.
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Illustrated edition (June 2, 2020)
• Publication Date: June 2, 2020.
• Genres: History, Homosexuality, Social Matters, Non-Fiction, Biography.
• Rating: 5 / 5 stars.

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY. INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER.

New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Winner of the 2021 Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction. One of The Washington Post's Top 50 Nonfiction Books of 2020.

From a young Harvard- and Cambridge-trained historian, the secret history of the fight for gay rights that began a generation before Stonewall.

In 1957, Frank Kameny, a rising astronomer working for the U.S. Defense Department in Hawaii, received a summons to report immediately to Washington, D.C. The Pentagon had reason to believe he was a homosexual, and after a series of humiliating interviews, Kameny, like countless gay men and women before him, was promptly dismissed from his government job. Unlike many others, though, Kameny fought back.

Based on firsthand accounts, recently declassified FBI records, and forty thousand personal documents, Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War unfolds over the course of the 1960s, as the Mattachine Society of Washington, the group Kameny founded, became the first organization to protest the systematic persecution of gay federal employees. It traces the forgotten ties that bound gay rights to the Black Freedom Movement, the New Left, lesbian activism, and trans resistance. Above all, it is a story of America (and Washington) at a cultural and sexual crossroads; of shocking, byzantine public battles with Congress; of FBI informants; murder; betrayal; sex; love; and ultimately victory.

In case you haven't heard of this marvelous book, it's the story of early gay activist Frank Kameny, the man that made gay rights a possibility when he was fired by the U.S.A. government for being gay. This man was the reason why it all started long before the Stonewall Riots. Basically, he's a big part of the reason why we can be free today.

With an incredible level of detail, Dr. Eric Cervini tells the story of Kameni and how he shaped what would become a social machine to create change in a prejudiced, intolerant, and conservative society. However, he does so by painting a picture of the man, not the hero or the icon: The Deviant's War details the good, the bad, the irrational, and more.

Also, you will learn about he lives of protestor and activists that would help Kameny, like Barbara Gittings, Harry Hay, Stephen Donaldson, and more. You will get to know the struggles, the ideas, the plans, results, everything around these people who made it their lives' mission to change their world and create a change for future generations.

Although it took me so long to go through this impressive work, I'm totally in love with it. As a reader, I found it challenging but satisfying. As a queer person, I found it human and celebratory. As an intellectual, I was simmering in envy for how deep and well-done it is. And as a reviewer I'm speechless. I just need to say that half of it are the notes and references Dr. Eric Cervini used to make this masterpiece possible, so there's no reason to be afraid of The Deviant's War. You'll be glad you read it.

About Eric Cervini:

Dr. Eric Cervini is an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ politics, a NYT bestselling author, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his first book, THE DEVIANT’S WAR: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America. It also won the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction, the New York Times Editors’ Choice, and the “Best Read of 2020” at the Queerties. As an authority on 1960s gay activism, Cervini serves on the Board of Advisors of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of gay American history. His award-winning digital exhibitions have been featured in Harvard’s Rudenstine Gallery, and he has presented his research to audiences across America and the United Kingdom. He lives in Los Angeles with his drag queen boyfriend and their dog, Moo Bear. Website. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. YouTube.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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