Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town - Hardcover

Newton, Esther

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080707926X ISBN 13: 9780807079263

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1993

Synopsis

Recounts the history of Cherry Grove, from the 1930s to the present, including interviews with residents who describe the struggles, the partying, and the perseverance. By the author of Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America.

About this title

Review

"Groundbreaking."--Carl Luss ""Gay & Lesbian Review" "

""Cherry Grove, Fire Island" stands as an important document of gay and lesbian life in the twentieth century. Newton makes a convincing case for Cherry Grove as America's first gay town and its influence on gay culture by describing the central place of drag in Cherry Grove history, the impact of the Arts Project as the first theater by gays for gays, and the need for a place such as Cherry Grove where gay men and lesbians could associate in public."--Karen Wilson ""Lambda Book Report" ""

"This perceptive and engaging book reconstructs the extraordinary, campy, and sometimes heartbreaking history of gays on Fire Island since the 1930s in astonishing detail. But it also offers a broader analysis of the class, racial, ethnic, and gender divisions in the lesbian and gay world and of the profound ways in which gay culture has changed in the last half-century that is sure to be pondered and debated for years to come."
--George Chauncey, author of "Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 "

"Groundbreaking."--Carl Luss "Gay & Lesbian Review "

"Newton digs beneath the myths and legends to provide us with a rich account of a community unique in the annals of American history. She tells the story of Cherry Grove with wit, affection, and insight.The result is a compelling account of how gay life--and American society--has changed in the last sixty years."--John D'Emilio, author of "In a New Century: Essays on Queer History, Politics, and Community Life "

"Esther Newton documents the town's history from its gay beginnings in the 1930s through the first decade following Stonewall, utilizing as her primary resource interviews with . . . Cherry Grove residents. All of these narrators . . . love their town, and repeatedly tell of their joy in first finding themselves there. . . . Although the Grove has had its share of straight-gay and owner-renter clashes, and has never been free of racism, anti-Semitism, or misogyny, it still emerges as a special place; Newton's affection for it is palpable." --Vera Wisman "Women's Review of Books "

"Newton foregrounds the role of lesbians and analyzes their invisibility and minority status in the community. She is also sensitive to how race and class function in the Grove, considering both the community's heterogeneity and the structures of exclusion that limit its boundaries. . . . The patience and love with which Newton . . . [has] acted . . . to make [her] narrators' histories heard provides a wealth of material for analysis." --Ann Cvetkovich "Signs "

"Esther Newton presents her material with the scholarly thoroughness of an anthropologist and the skill and brilliance of a storyteller. Her fascinating account of Cherry Grove as a mecca for gay men and women over a period of sixty years is a crucial contribution to gay and lesbian history." --Lillian Faderman, author of "Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America "

"Cherry Grove, Fire Island stands as an important document of gay and lesbian life in the twentieth century. Newton makes a convincing case for Cherry Grove as America's first gay town and its influence on gay culture by describing the central place of drag in Cherry Grove history, the impact of the Arts Project as the first theater by gays for gays, and the need for a place such as Cherry Grove where gay men and lesbians could associate in public." --Karen Wilson "Lambda Book Report "

"A monumental achievement and invaluable contribution to gay and lesbian studies."
--Donna Penn "GLQ "

Review

"An ambitious history. . . . Newton should be applauded for writing sympathetically about people who were remarkably resilient in the face of enormous homophobia."
(The Nation)

"Cherry Grove, Fire Island stands as an important document of gay and lesbian life in the twentieth century. Newton makes a convincing case for Cherry Grove as America's first gay town and its influence on gay culture by describing the central place of drag in Cherry Grove history, the impact of the Arts Project as the first theater by gays for gays, and the need for a place such as Cherry Grove where gay men and lesbians could associate in public."  (Karen Wilson Lambda Book Report)

"Life at the Grove is always viewed through the prism of history, showing how such events as the Great Depression, World War II, McCarthyism and, of course, the 1969 Stonewall riots, which marked the beginning of the modern gay and lesbian rights movement, affected gay Grovers. That attention, and [Newton's] obvious affection for her subject—and subjects—propels the book effortlessly through the decades."
(Boston Globe)

"Newton shines, weaving stunning anecdotes of violence and humiliations among her descriptions of fabulous parties and sex. . . . Her empathy conveys the enormous integrity of people whose most radical gesture was to be fabulous in the face of hate."
(Village Voice)

"A monumental achievement and invaluable contribution to gay and lesbian studies."
(Donna Penn GLQ)

"Groundbreaking." (Carl Luss Gay & Lesbian Review)

"Newton has written a soundly researched cultural history of this unique homosexual summer retreat. . . . Based on interviews with 46 former and current residents, [Newton] chronicles the colony's development from an isolated few cabins to a thriving, commercial, publicized community with Mafia-run discos and occasional police raids."  (Publishers Weekly)

"Esther Newton documents the town's history from its gay beginnings in the 1930s through the first decade following Stonewall, utilizing as her primary resource interviews with . . . Cherry Grove residents. All of these narrators . . . love their town, and repeatedly tell of their joy in first finding themselves there. . . . Although the Grove has had its share of straight-gay and owner-renter clashes, and has never been free of racism, anti-Semitism, or misogyny, it still emerges as a special place; Newton's affection for it is palpable."  (Vera Wisman Women's Review of Books)

"Newton foregrounds the role of lesbians and analyzes their invisibility and minority status in the community. She is also sensitive to how race and class function in the Grove, considering both the community's heterogeneity and the structures of exclusion that limit its boundaries. . . . The patience and love with which Newton . . . [has] acted . . . to make [her] narrators' histories heard provides a wealth of material for analysis."  (Ann Cvetkovich Signs)

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 080707926X
• ISBN 13: 9780807079263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 384