Books like Before Stonewall by Vern L. Bullough

In 1969, police raids on New York’s Stonewall Inn sparked the riots that ignited the modern LGBTQ rights movement, reshaping society’s view of gay life.

The Mayor of Castro Street is Shilts's acclaimed story of Harvey Milk, the man whose personal life, public career, and tragic assassination mirrored the dramatic and unprecedented emergence of the gay community in America during the 1970s. Known as "The Mayor of Castro Street" even before he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Harvey Milk's personal and political life is a story full of personal tragedies and political intrigues, assassinations at City Hall, massive riots in the streets, the miscarriage of justice, and the consolidation of gay power and gay hope. The Mayor of Castro Street is a story of personal tragedies and political intrigues, assassination in City Hall and massive riots in the streets, the miscarriage of justice and the consolidation of gay power and gay hope. Harvey Milk has been the subject of numerous books and movies, including the Academy Award–winning 1984 documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk. His life is also the basis of a 2008 major motion picture, Milk, starring Sean Penn.

A riveting narrative of the pivotal moment that changed the face of LGBTQ history, 50 years after the Stonewall riots.

An anthology curated for the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, compiling first‑hand accounts, diaries, and periodicals that trace the rise of LGBTQ activism and honor both celebrated and overlooked leaders.

Gay Power chronicles the rise of the modern gay rights movement from the 1965 Columbia student group to the transformative Stonewall riots, highlighting New York’s role as the political and cultural epicenter of LGBTQ activism.

An updated sociological study of the global gay and lesbian movement, examining its rise, strategies, human‑rights gains, AIDS activism, and cultural nationalism amid New Right opposition.

A comprehensive analysis of the homophile movement in the United States, from 1940 to 1970.

Since the June 1969 uprising at New York's Stonewall Inn, the very word "Stonewall" has become etched in the American psyche as a synonym for "liberation." Stonewall proved a cataclysmic marker in the lives of gay men and lesbians: it was the point after which gay people were no longer content to live in fearful silence as their most basic rights were trampled on or ignored. Stonewall happened because homosexuals of all races revolted against an act of official oppression. It was indeed a beginning, but it was also the culmination of a long struggle against the tyranny of socially regulated and defined speech about homosexuality. In this insightful and engaging analysis, Byrne R. S. Fone maps out one very significant road to Stonewall - the literary course of male homoerotic desire and the homophobia that has made so much of what homosexuals have written so passionate and moving. Most of the texts Fone analyzes presume that sexuality is the central aspect of identity. Whereas gay literature since 1969 has been a vocal and supporting partner to the activism that has characterized the movement for lesbian and gay rights, before 1969 there were few political initiatives and only a handful of organized groups: the text was dominant.

A candid memoir of Cleve Jones, activist, and AIDS advocate, tracing his rise in 1970s San Francisco, his partnership with Harvey Milk, and his battles against the AIDS crisis, culminating in founding the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Memorial Quilt.