My Desire for History

This anthology pays tribute to Allan Berube (1946-2007), a self-taught historian and MacArthur Fellow who was a pioneer in the study of lesbian and gay history in the United States. Best known for his Lambda Literary Award-winning book Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (1990), Berube also wrote extensively on the history of sexual politics in San Francisco and on the relationship between sexuality, class, and race. John D'Emilio and Estelle Freedman, who were close colleagues and friends of Berube, have selected sixteen of his most important essays, including hard-to-access articles and unpublished writing. The book provides a retrospective on Berube's life and work while it documents the emergence of a grassroots lesbian and gay community history movement in the 1970s and 1980s. Taken together, the essays attest to the power of history to mobilize individuals and communities to create social change.

My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History
Allan Berube (1946-2007) was an independent scholar and community historian.
D'Emilio and Freedman deserve our unreserved thanks for rescuing these significant Berube writings from obscurity, and for making his courageous life's story available to us all. My Desire for History will be a rich and thought-provoking addition to your library. Do yourself a favor and buy it.--Gay City News

Particularly engaging.--Gay & Lesbian Review

The essays adapted from the acclaimed slide shows that Berube produced are powerful.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society