1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785336703321

Autore

Bérubé Allan

Titolo

Coming out under fire [[electronic resource] ] : the history of gay men and women in World War II / / Allan Bérubé ; with a new foreword by John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chapel Hill, N.C., : University of North Carolina Press, 1990

ISBN

1-4696-0459-0

0-8078-9964-X

Edizione

[20th anniversary ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (416 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

D'EmilioJohn

FreedmanEstelle B. <1947->

Disciplina

355.008664

Soggetti

World War, 1939-1945 - Participation, Gay

Gay military personnel - United States - History - 20th century

Gay people - United States - History - 20th century

United States Armed Forces History World War, 1939-1945

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"Published by arrangements with the Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schouster, Inc."--Title page verso.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Foreword / by John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman -- Preface and acknowledgments -- Introduction : "why we fight" -- Getting in -- Fitting in -- GI drag : a gay refuge -- "The gang's all here" : the gay life and vice control -- The fight for reform -- Pioneer experts : psychiatrists discover the gay GI -- Comrades in arms -- Fighting another war -- Rights, justice, and a new minority -- The legacy of the war.

Sommario/riassunto

During World War II, as the United States called on its citizens to serve in unprecedented numbers, the presence of gay Americans in the armed forces increasingly conflicted with the expanding antihomosexual policies and procedures of the military. In Coming Out Under Fire, Allan Berube examines in depth and detail these social and political confrontation--not as a story of how the military victimized homosexuals, but as a story of how a dynamic power relationship developed between gay citizens and their government, transforming them both. Drawing on GIs' wartime letters, extensive interviews with



gay veterans, and declassified military documents, Berube thoughtfully constructs a startling history of the two wars gay military men and women fough--one for America and another as homosexuals within the military. Berube's book, the inspiration for the 1995 Peabody Award-winning documentary film of the same name, has become a classic since it was published in 1990, just three years prior to the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which has continued to serve as an uneasy compromise between gays and the military. With a new foreword by historians John D'Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman, this book remains a valuable contribution to the history of World War II, as well as to the ongoing debate regarding the role of gays in the U.S. military.