A user-friendly look at a watershed event and its context. (index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)
A substantive look at a key moment in the history of the LGBTQIAP–equality movement.
Pitman provides readers with a well-rounded look at gay and lesbian—and to a somewhat lesser extent transgender—life in America in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. She smartly uses the introduction to remind young readers that the term “LGBTQ+” is an evolving one and notes that source materials through the account may use various versions of the initialism. Organized around “objects” (often photos, sometimes cultural touchstones), the book begins with the construction of what would become the Stonewall and briefly touches on gay and lesbian life pre-1940s, but the story begins to delve deeply into the movement in the 1950s. Along the way, Pitman deftly weaves in social issues of the time—women’s liberation, the Black Power movement, El Movimiento, etc.—along with frank discussions of the ideological weaknesses sometimes found in the gay community: racism, transphobia, internalized homophobia, and misogyny. The story provides a balanced if somewhat scattered account. For all it does well, Pitman’s narrative has a tendency to meander, and some parts feel repetitive. The backmatter alone is almost worth the purchase price, as it includes a timeline, footnotes, and a healthy bibliography. The book makes good use of images throughout the text, but the absence of captions for some photos is an irritant, and image credits do not take up the slack.
A user-friendly look at a watershed event and its context. (index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3720-6
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bial (A Handful of Dirt, p. 299, etc.) conjures up ghostly images of the Wild West with atmospheric photos of weathered clapboard and a tally of evocative names: Tombstone, Deadwood, Goldfield, Progress, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickock, the OK Corral. Tracing the life cycle of the estimated 30,000 ghost towns (nearly 1300 in Utah alone), he captures some echo of their bustling, rough-and-tumble past with passages from contemporary observers like Mark Twain: “If a man wanted a fight on his hands without any annoying delay, all he had to do was appear in public in a white shirt or stove-pipe hat, and he would be accommodated.” Among shots of run-down mining works, dusty, deserted streets, and dark eaves silhouetted against evening skies, Bial intersperses 19th-century photos and prints for contrast, plus an occasional portrait of a grizzled modern resident. He suggests another sort of resident too: “At night that plaintive hoo-hoo may be an owl nesting in a nearby saguaro cactus—or the moaning of a restless ghost up in the graveyard.” Children seeking a sense of this partly mythic time and place in American history, or just a delicious shiver, will linger over his tribute. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-06557-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
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