Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community
Select Format
Select Condition 
You Might Also Enjoy
Book Overview
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold traces the evolution of the lesbian community in Buffalo, New York from the mid-1930s up to the early 1960s. Drawing upon the oral histories of 45 women, it is the first comprehensive history of a working-class lesbian community. These poignant and complex stories show how black and white working-class lesbians, although living under oppressive circumstances, nevertheless became powerful agents of historical change. Kennedy and Davis provide a unique insider's perspective on butch-fem culture and argue that the roots of gay and lesbian liberation are found specifically in the determined resistance of working-class lesbians.
This 20th anniversary edition republishes the book for a new generation of readers. It includes a new preface in which the authors reflect on where the last 20 years have taken them. For anyone interested in lesbian life during the 1940s and 1950s, or in the dynamics of butch-fem culture, this study remains the one that set the highest standard for all oral histories and ethnographies of lesbian communities anywhere.
Customer Reviews
Rated 5 starsAcademic
I like this book for the vast amount of information. I like it so much I want someone to take the information write it in a less academic style of writing. Say the way Lillian Faderman or Jonathan Katz does. I've been wading through it for several months, it is that captivating yet the redundancy of information makes me wish I were doing the blue pencil role. Leslie Feinberg's "Stone Butch Blues" would be a good companion...
0Report
Rated 5 starsThank you, ladies.
The painstaking research and preparation for Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy included lengthy and comprehensive interviews of over 30 women who openly participated in lesbian social life in Buffalo, New York, during the 1940s and 1950s. The women interviewed here are quoted at great length; their accounts are informative, heartfelt, and sometimes humorous as they speak of the suffering,...
1Report
Rated 4 starsComprehensive and comprehensible
Kennedy and Davis have written an excellent ethnography on lesbian culture in Buffalo in the 1940's and 50's! The authors take great care to give first hand accounts, interpret them, explain their interpretations, as well as place them in the broader context of what was occuring socially at the time. They are careful to point out differences in opinion of the various women from whom the information was gathered; moreover,...
0Report
Rated 4 starsboots of leather, slippers of gold
Elizabeth Kennedy and Madeline Davis' book Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold does everything right! Though the book focuses on the history of one lesbian community in Buffalo, New York from the 30s to the 60s, many of the themes and ideas are more generalizeable. The book is comprehensive and inclusive of every imaginable theme. From societal attitudes and politics to sexual practices and relationship patterns including...
0Report
Rated 5 starsREAD THIS BOOK IF YOU CANNOT READ ANY OTHER!
This book is WONDERFUL! There is little information available about the hidden life of Lesbians but the author combined wonderful talent and compassion to telling the story of how women who love women have been around for a long time. It mostly focuses on the daily life of people like us who have fought for the recognition to love whomever they would love! There is a point in the book where myself ( & the friends whom...
0Report
Based on Your Recent Browsing
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
