Overview

Even as substantial legal and social victories are being celebrated within the gay rights movement, much of working-class America still exists outside the current narratives of gay liberation. In Steel Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history interviews with forty gay, lesbian, and transgender steelworkers, mostly living in northwestern Indiana, to give voice to this previously silent and invisible population. She presents powerful stories of the intersections of work, class, gender, and sexual identity in the dangerous industrial setting of the steel mill. The voices and stories captured by Balay-by turns alarming, heroic, funny, and devastating-challenge contemporary understandings of what it means to be queer and shed light on the incredible homophobia and violence faced by many: nearly all of Balay's narrators remain closeted at work, and many have experienced harassment, violence, or rape. Through the powerful voices of queer steelworkers themselves, Steel Closets provides rich insight into an understudied part of the LGBT population, contributing to a growing body of scholarship that aims to reveal and analyze a broader range of gay life in America.

Full Product Details

9781469627236

Table of Contents

Reviews

[This] original, insightful, well-written, and concise story of class, gender, sexuality, and sometimes race is at turns harrowing and exciting. . . . Highly recommended.--Choice [A] well-wrought contribution to LGBT studies.--Library Journal Balay's life-changing book is a compelling 192-page study exploring how sexuality and gender overlap in the sprawling steel mills of Northwest Indiana. . . . Groundbreaking.--Chicago Post-Tribune A must-read LGBT book of 2014.--The Advocate An eye-opening read; you won't forget these interviews.--Lavender Anne Balay has produced an astonishing work of ethnography. As a testament to the sheer magnitude of suffering, resourcefulness, and perseverance of our queer sisters and brothers in steel, she has written a labor of love.--Women's Review of Books An honest and intimate window into the lives of hard-working queer steelworkers whose lives stray far from the gets-better narrative.--Oral History Review Their stories challenge our convenient stereotypes of what it means to be queer and how that has changed through time.--Chicago Sun Times

An eye-opening read; you won't forget these interviews. -- Lavender [An] original, insightful, well-written, and concise story of class, gender, sexuality, and sometimes race is at turns harrowing and exciting. . . . Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. -- Choice Balay's life-changing book is a compelling 192-page study exploring how sexuality and gender overlap in the sprawling steel mills of Northwest Indiana. . . . Groundbreaking. -- Chicago Post-Tribune A must-read LGBT book of 2014.-- The Advocate [This] original, insightful, well-written, and concise story of class, gender, sexuality, and sometimes race is at turns harrowing and exciting. . . . Highly recommended.--Choice [A] well-wrought contribution to LGBT studies.--Library Journal Balay's life-changing book is a compelling 192-page study exploring how sexuality and gender overlap in the sprawling steel mills of Northwest Indiana. . . . Groundbreaking.--Chicago Post-Tribune A must-read LGBT book of 2014.--The Advocate An eye-opening read; you won't forget these interviews.--Lavender Anne Balay has produced an astonishing work of ethnography. As a testament to the sheer magnitude of suffering, resourcefulness, and perseverance of our queer sisters and brothers in steel, she has written a labor of love.--Women's Review of Books An honest and intimate window into the lives of hard-working queer steelworkers whose lives stray far from the gets-better narrative.--Oral History Review Their stories challenge our convenient stereotypes of what it means to be queer and how that has changed through time.--Chicago Sun Times [A] well-wrought contribution to LGBT studies.-- Library Journal A must-read LGBT book of 2014.-- The Advocate [A] well-wrought contribution to LGBT studies. -- Library Journal Their stories challenge our convenient stereotypes of what it means to be queer and how that has changed through time. -- Chicago Sun Times A fascinating and insightful look into the lives of queer steel mill workers ... Covering a multi-generational and cross-gender segment of this workforce, this book contributes to the ever-growing body of scholarship on working-class queers who exist outside the metropole but whose life histories are nonetheless a critical (but often missing) part of the queer historical archive. --E. Patrick Johnson, author of Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South This book is a great pleasure to read. It stands at the forefront of labor studies and queer studies. More important, it chronicles the amazing stories and reveals the hidden worlds of gay steelworkers. --Steve Estes, author of Ask and Tell: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out

[This] original, insightful, well-written, and concise story of class, gender, sexuality, and sometimes race is at turns harrowing and exciting. . . . Highly recommended.--<i>Choice</i>

Balay's life-changing book is a compelling 192-page study exploring how sexuality and gender overlap in the sprawling steel mills of Northwest Indiana. . . . Groundbreaking.-- Chicago Post-Tribune

Balay's life-changing book is a compelling 192-page study exploring how sexuality and gender overlap in the sprawling steel mills of Northwest Indiana. . . . Groundbreaking.--Chicago Post-Tribune [This] original, insightful, well-written, and concise story of class, gender, sexuality, and sometimes race is at turns harrowing and exciting. . . . Highly recommended.--Choice [A] well-wrought contribution to LGBT studies.--Library Journal A must-read LGBT book of 2014.--The Advocate An eye-opening read; you won't forget these interviews.--Lavender Anne Balay has produced an astonishing work of ethnography. As a testament to the sheer magnitude of suffering, resourcefulness, and perseverance of our queer sisters and brothers in steel, she has written a labor of love.--Women's Review of Books An honest and intimate window into the lives of hard-working queer steelworkers whose lives stray far from the gets-better narrative.--Oral History Review Their stories challenge our convenient stereotypes of what it means to be queer and how that has changed through time.--Chicago Sun Times

Author Information

Anne Balay teaches at Haverford College, USA.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available