Marsha

ARC copy. I am not going to spend this review talking about how much this book made me adore and cherish Marsha as a person. I had seen mentions of her before in articles about her (underplayed) role in Stonewall, but never really seen her described with this much rich detail and this much empathy. She truly was a unique and special and splendid person. What I would like to highlight more, because I think it is worth talking about, is how great this book is within its genre as a nonfiction biography. It is well researched and well put together - and at the same time it retain a sense of sharing collective stories about someone who was loved and who is missed. It is written by a Black trans woman about a Black trans elder, and as such it is equal parts biography, history, tradition-bearing and holding witness. It draws in voices of people who knew and loved Marsha and have seen different sides of her. At the same time, the book is also a concise and much needed queer history from the 1960s to the 2010s in the USA. It gives a lot of cultural background to Stonewall, and also traces the Pride movement from its inception through various decades through Marsha's experience (dealing with how and why transgender people of color especially were sidelined in the movement). I was also fascinated by how well the author wove in a larger context of activisim, showing how Marsha's personal actions played a much larger role, and left a much larger imprint, in the queer rights movement to this day. I learned a lot about art as activism, care as activism, gender expression as activism. Marsha's work was truly intersectional in a way people are re-learning to do it nowadays. All in all, this book is about a fascinating, amazing person, written with love, care, and attention to detail. It talks about how cultural context shaped Marsha's life, and how Marsha shaped culture. It is queer history at its best. I am so glad I got to read it.