Harvey Milk

May 1, 2018

Faderman (The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle) profiles Harvey Milk (1930-78), the first openly gay supervisor of San Francisco, whose life was cut short when he was assassinated by a fellow elected official. This biography opens by describing Milk's grandfather's journey from Lithuania to the United States, then pivots to the politician's upbringing and relationship to his family. Faderman pays special attention to Milk's Jewish identity and argues that his devotion to the Jewish principle of repairing the world influenced his championing of marginalized communities, even though he was not an observant Jew himself. Fearing that his sexuality would not be accepted in 1950s Long Island, Milk drifted among jobs and became involved in New York's theatre scene. After moving to San Francisco, he found his true calling as an advocate for the gay community in his district. Faderman explores Milk's failed campaigns, personal relationships, and political challenges as he navigated the San Francisco political arena. His ambitious and driven nature shines throughout and Faderman does not gloss over his subject's faults. The volume ends with an analysis of Milk's legacy. VERDICT A thoughtful, nuanced portrait of a passionate and complicated man. Highly recommended for those interested in LGBTQIA history.--Rebekah Kati, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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Starred review from April 1, 2018
A new biography of the controversial and groundbreaking Harvey Milk (1930-1978).In this latest installment of the publisher's Jewish Lives series, LGBT historian Faderman (The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle, 2015, etc.) focuses on one of the most revolutionary West Coast gay politicians of the 20th century. Born to a Jewish family, Milk struggled to find his place in the society that surrounded him, regardless of where he lived and went to school. As the author writes, "Harvey was steeped in Jewishness as a child....But his heart was not in it. He later claimed that he rejected religion because when he was twelve years old he 'found out that religion was phony or hypocritical.' " Milk's ability to see things as they were--to see through the protective membranes of societal and cultural preconceptions--is what set him apart as a deeply insightful politician. He clearly identified the major issues in his community and addressed them head-on. Faderman deftly navigates us through Milk's incredible journey, from his days exploring the Navy's gay haven to his experience in the early 1970s in New York scrapping pennies to pay the rent on his Greenwich Village apartment to his arrival to California, where he quickly became a staple in the Castro District, the notoriously gay neighborhood in San Francisco. The author naturally devotes much of the text to Milk's political accomplishments, including his work against the discriminatory Proposition 6, voter registration drives, and, above all, being the first openly gay man elected as city supervisor. Though Milk's story is well-known, Faderman does a fantastic job at reanimating a story that reminds us that people can be truly tolerant--with the exception of the few--and that, with will (not money), anyone can effect change.Harvey Milk as seen through fresh, highly knowledgeable eyes.

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May 15, 2018
Harvey Milk was a complex man, Faderman asserts in this exemplary biography, a volume in Yale University Press' Jewish Lives series. As she points out, Milk tried many lives ?she lists a dozen, ranging from teacher to Wall Street securities analyst, from actor to hippie?before he finally found his calling as a politician, becoming in his 1977 election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, and, arguably, the most famous gay man in America. The grandson of Lithuanian Jews, Milk grew up in a small Long Island town, where?deeply closeted?he affected a macho persona while being preternaturally outgoing and uncensored, all the while longing for a spotlight that he finally found when he moved to San Francisco and entered politics. While mostly laudatory, Faderman pulls no punches in her examination of Milk's often disastrous private life but puts it in the context of the martyred Milk's undeniable contribution to the evolution of gay liberation. Concise and beautifully written, Harvey Milk is an invaluable addition to LGBTQ literature.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)