Adult Nonfiction

By: Jack Parlett (Author), 2023, Paperback

"[A] concise, meticulously researched, century-spanning chronicle of queer life on Fire Island captures, with a plain-spoken yet lyric touch, the locale’s power to stun and shame, to give pleasure and symbolize evanescence." —Wayne Koestenbaum, New York Times Book Review

Fire Island, a thin strip of beach off the Long Island coast, has long been a vital space in the queer history of America. Both utopian and exclusionary, healing and destructive, the island is a locus of contradictions, all of which coalesce against a stunning ocean backdrop.

Now poet and scholar Jack Parlett tells the story of this iconic destination—its history, its meaning and its cultural significance—through the lens of the artists and creators who sought refuge on its shores. Together, figures as divergent as Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, Frank O'Hara, Patricia Highsmith and Jeremy O. Harris tell the story of a queer space in constant evolution. Transporting, impeccably researched and gorgeously written, Fire Island is a fond and fierce portrait of an iconic American destination and an essential contribution to queer history.

"Supremely engaging and highly informative." —BuzzFeed

"A fascinating, throbbing history." —Olivia Laing

“A highly informative, detailed, even thrilling account of how the Supreme Court arguments reshaped American law.”―Michael Bronkski, San Francisco Chronicle

No one could have predicted that the night of September 17, 1998, would be anything but routine in Houston, Texas. Even the call to police that a black man was "going crazy with a gun" was hardly unusual in this urban setting. Nobody could have imagined that the arrest of two men for a minor criminal offense would reverberate in American constitutional law, exposing a deep malignity in our judicial system and challenging the traditional conception of what makes a family. Indeed, when Harris County sheriff’s deputies entered the second-floor apartment, there was no gun. Instead, they reported that they had walked in on John Lawrence and Tyron Garner having sex in Lawrence’s bedroom.

So begins Dale Carpenter’s "gripping and brilliantly researched" Flagrant Conduct, a work nine years in the making that transforms our understanding of what we thought we knew about Lawrence v. Texas, the landmark Supreme Court decision of 2003 that invalidated America’s sodomy laws. Drawing on dozens of interviews, Carpenter has taken on the "gargantuan" task of extracting the truth about the case, analyzing the claims of virtually every person involved.

Carpenter first introduces us to the interracial defendants themselves, who were hardly prepared "for the strike of lightning" that would upend their lives, and then to the Harris County arresting officers, including a sheriff’s deputy who claimed he had "looked eye to eye" in the faces of the men as they allegedly fornicated. Carpenter skillfully navigates Houston’s complex gay world of the late 1990s, where a group of activists and court officers, some of them closeted themselves, refused to bury what initially seemed to be a minor arrest.

The author charts not only the careful legal strategy that Lambda Legal attorneys adopted to make the case compatible to a conservative Supreme Court but also the miscalculations of the Houston prosecutors who assumed that the nation’s extant sodomy laws would be upheld. Masterfully reenacting the arguments that riveted spectators and Justices alike in 2003, Flagrant Conduct then reaches a point where legal history becomes literature, animating a Supreme Court decision as few writers have done.

In situating Lawrence v. Texas within the larger framework of America’s four-century persecution of gay men and lesbians, Flagrant Conduct compellingly demonstrates that gay history is an integral part of our national civil rights story. 8 pages of illustrations

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.

Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle."

Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, scholar, author, and speaker. She is an outspoken advocate for the oppressed and exploited, writing on Black liberation, prison abolition, the intersections of race, gender, and class, and international solidarity with Palestine. She is the author of several books, including Women, Race, and Class and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is the subject of the acclaimed documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and is Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

One of America's most provocative public intellectuals, Dr. Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his "ferocious moral vision." His many books include Race Matters, Democracy Matters, and his autobiography, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud.

Frank Barat is a human rights activist and author. He was the coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and is now the president of the Palestine Legal Action Network. His books include Gaza in Crisis and Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation.

By: Dr. Richard Louis Miller (Author), 2023, Paperback

Explores the full spectrum of sexual beliefs, practices, and identities

• Shares the author’s fascinating interviews with 20 experts, including clinical psychologist Lonnie Barbach, sex therapist Stella Resnick, sexual freedom advocate Janet Hardy, consent educator Laura McGuire, and Norma Jean Almadovar, former LA policewoman and current president of the prostitutes’ union COYOTE

• Looks at the stigmas of sex work, recovering from sexual trauma, sexual identification, gender fluidity, polyamory, and porn as a mirror for society

Exploring sexual customs, beliefs, practices, and identities from a wide variety of perspectives, Dr. Miller shares his fascinating interviews with 20 experts ranging from clinical psychologists and researchers to sex workers and polyamory educators. We learn from sex therapists, relationship experts, and tantric sex teachers, such as Dr. Lonnie Barbach, Dr. Stella Resnick, Katherine Rowland, and Diana Richardson, about the importance of communication, how to keep sensuality alive, and how to generate fulfilling and sustainable intimacy in relationships. Looking at sexual identity and non-monogamy, we hear from Dr. Ritch Savin-Williams on sexual identification and gender fluidity, Sumati Sparks on open relationships and polyamory, Janet Hardy, author of The Ethical Slut, on sexual freedom, and Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens on the possibilities of ecosexuality.

Revealing the inner workings of the sex industry, we hear from current and former escorts and sex workers on the stigmas and dangers of sex work and the need to decriminalize it, including Norma Jean Almadovar, former LA policewoman and current president of the prostitute’s union Coyote. Dr. Ogi Ogas, author of A Billion Wicked Thoughts, speaks about using data science and computational neuroscience to uncover true statistics about our sexual desires. We hear from Paulita Pappel on porn as a mirror for society, Faith Jones on escaping a sex cult, Maeve Moon on recovering from sexual trauma, and Dr. Laura McGuire about the broad impact of teaching consent.

Validating the extraordinary range and diversity of our sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, the author gathers voices that help us free our sexuality from the past, accept our natural urge for physical pleasure, and open us up to sexuality as a power for health, healing, and happiness.

This essential collection of queer contributions to history and culture is as funny as it is comprehensive. Told through the letters of the alphabet, from ABBA to addiction, from hair and makeup to HIV, From Gay to Z introduces the reader to a vast quantity of information about the people, events, phenomena, and artifacts that have been important to the movement for queer rights and to queer culture more broadly. Author Justin Sayre encourages the reader to use this volume as a reference and a way to learn more about the aspects of queerness that have most shaped their own lives. A vital addition to any LGBTQIA+ bookshelf.

By: Alison Bechdel (Author), 2007, Paperback

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, NATIONAL BESTSELLER 
Time Magazine #1 Book of the Year • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • 
Winner of the Stonewall Book Award •  Double finalist for the Lambda Book Award •
Nominated for the GLAAD Media Award
Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir that charts her fraught relationship with her late father. 
Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the "Fun Home." It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.
 
In her hands, personal history becomes a work of amazing subtlety and power, written with controlled force and enlivened with humor, rich literary allusion, and heartbreaking detail.

In the 1990s, a South Carolina town built its first botanical garden. For a small town, that was big news. For a small Southern town, that it was led by two gay men and a feminist was astounding.

Their lives and plant choices raised eyebrows as the Garden became a national showcase for new styles, even earning recognition on HGTV's "Secrets of Great Gardens."

One of the young men, Jenks Farmer, had previously left the conservative South but returned with a mission: to challenge traditional notions of garden beauty, which clung to formality and associated certain plants with stigmas of poverty and race.

These Garden Disruptors challenged genteel social norms of race, homophobia, and sexism while shoveling compost, searching for plants, and planting flowers. The crew of creative misfits built a garden that attracts millions of people today.

In this novel-like true story, Jenks Farmer's soulful voice shares the story of a mismatched crew of real, dirty-handed gardeners who not only planted the garden but set its mission.

Through these characters, Jenks also recounts the history of elitist horticulture, of sexual and racial discrimination in gardens, and of how social norms changed drastically in the South during the period of garden buildings.

By:  Marni Brown, Baker A. Rogers, & Martha Caldwell, 2022, Paperback

Create a more gender-inclusive climate in your classroom and school. This important book breaks down issues of gender and sexuality at the individual, interactional, and institutional level and shows how you can cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance and belonging for all students.　

You’ll learn key concepts and terms educators need to know to support students, how gender and sexuality identities develop and influence mental health, why we should take an intersectional approach with students, and the importance of creating psychological safety in the classroom. You’ll also gain practical suggestions on how to disrupt unconscious bias, represent diverse voices, counteract microaggressions, use gender-neutral language and preferred pronouns, address gender bullying, provide safe zones, and craft inclusive school statements. Each chapter contains examples, anecdotes from teachers and students, best practices, and resources to help you along the way.

Appropriate for educators of all grade levels, this book’s clear, helpful advice will help you ensure that your students feel visible, affirmed, and safe, so they can thrive in school and beyond.

Winner of the AASECT's Sexuality Professionals Book Award for General Audience

A first-of-its-kind practical guide to achieving gender freedom with joy, curiosity, and pleasure for transgender and non-binary individuals, gender explorers, and those who love them—perfect for readers of The Body is Not an Apology and Schuyler Bailar's He/She/They.   

Taking everything they know from more than a decade of work with the queer and trans community, their personal journey of gender exploration, and clinical best practices, licensed therapist, coach, and speaker Rae McDaniel created the Gender Freedom Model. A uniquely supportive narrative for gender exploration and transition grounded in queer joy, their nine-pillar model has helped thousands of transgender and nonbinary individuals explore gender through play, pleasure, and freedom. And now, it can help you too. 
 
Whether you're transgender, non-binary, cisgender, or still exploring, this compassionate and practical guide will help you experience your gender in new, expansive ways by teaching:
* How to move from anxiety, self-doubt, and fear to a confident, proactive state of mind.
* How to navigate discomfort and celebrate your inherent worth as you develop genuine self-love.
* How to design relationships, community, and a sex life that lights you up.
* Practical tools to align your gender identity and expression with your most authentic self through play, pleasure, and possibility. 

Brimming with warmth, celebration, and practical advice Gender Magic is essential reading for anyone who yearns to step into their fullest self and imagine a life beyond gender binaries. Because you—yes YOU—are magic. 

"Rae McDaniel is a leader in their generation, matching compassion with clear-sighted vision for a sex-positive future.” –  Emily Nagoski, Ph.D, author of Come As You Are and Burnout

By: Kate Bornstein, 2016, Paperback

“I know I’m not a man ... and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably not a woman, either.... The trouble is, we’re living in a world that insists we be one or the other.” With these words, Kate Bornstein ushers readers on a funny, fearless, and wonderfully scenic journey across the terrains of gender and identity.

On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist. But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.

Gender Outlaw was decades ahead of its time when it was first published in 1994. Now, some twenty-odd years later, this book stands as both a classic and a still-revolutionary work—one that continues to push us gently but profoundly to the furthest borders of the gender frontier.

By Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman, 2010, Paperback

Today's trans people and other sex/gender radicals are writing a drastically new world into being. In Gender Outlaws, Bornstein, together with writer, raconteur, and theater artist S. Bear Bergman, collects and contextualizes the work of this generation's trans and genderqueer forward thinkers — new voices from the stage, on the streets, in the workplace, in the bedroom, and on the pages and websites of the world's most respected mainstream news sources. Gender Outlaws includes essays, commentary, comic art, and conversations from a diverse group of trans-spectrum people who live and believe in barrier-breaking lives.

By: Allison Moon (Author), 2020, Paperback

By: Jill Gutowitz (Author), 2022, Paperback

“Wickedly funny and heartstoppingly vulnerable…every page twinkles with brilliance.” —Refinery29

Perfect for fans of Samantha Irby and Trick Mirror, a hilarious, whip-smart collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of queerness, pop culture, the internet, and identity, introducing one of the most undeniably original new voices today.

Jill Gutowitz’s life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill’s own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us.

Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future.

By: Matthew Vines (Author), 2015, Paperback

“God and the Gay Christian is a game changer. Winsome, accessible, and carefully researched, every page is brought to life by the author’s clear love for Scripture and deep, persistent faith. With this book, Matthew Vines emerges as one of my generation’s most important Christian leaders, not only on matters of sexuality but also on what it means to follow Jesus with wisdom, humility, and grace.  Prepare to be challenged and enlightened, provoked and inspired. Read with an open heart and mind, and you are bound to be changed.”
— Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood and Faith Unraveled

As a young Christian man, Matthew Vines harbored the same basic hopes of most young people: to someday share his life with someone, to build a family of his own, to give and receive love. But when he realized he was gay, those hopes were called into question. The Bible, he’d been taught, condemned gay relationships.
 
Feeling the tension between his understanding of the Bible and the reality of his same-sex orientation, Vines devoted years of intensive research into what the Bible says about homosexuality. With care and precision, Vines asked questions such as:
 
• Do biblical teachings on the marriage covenant preclude same-sex marriage or not?
• How should we apply the teachings of Jesus to the gay debate?
• What does the story of Sodom and Gomorrah really say about human relationships?
• Can celibacy be a calling when it is mandated, not chosen?
• What did Paul have in mind when he warned against same-sex relations?
 
Unique in its affirmation of both an orthodox faith and sexual diversity, God and the Gay Christian is likely to spark heated debate, sincere soul search­ing, even widespread cultural change. Not only is it a compelling interpretation of key biblical texts about same-sex relations, it is also the story of a young man navigating relationships with his family, his hometown church, and the Christian church at large as he expresses what it means to be a faithful gay Christian.

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An Instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller

“This book is for any parent who has ever struggled under the substantial weight of caregiving—which is to say, all of us. Good Inside is not only a wise and practical guide to raising resilient, emotionally healthy kids, it’s also a supportive resource for overwhelmed parents who need more compassion and less stress. Dr. Becky is the smart, thoughtful, in-the-trenches parenting expert we’ve been waiting for!”—Eve Rodsky, New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play and Find Your Unicorn Space

Dr. Becky Kennedy, wildly popular parenting expert and creator of @drbeckyatgoodinside, shares her groundbreaking approach to raising kids and offers practical strategies for parenting in a way that feels good.

Over the past several years, Dr. Becky Kennedy—known to her followers as “Dr. Becky”—has been sparking a parenting revolution. Millions of parents, tired of following advice that either doesn’t work or simply doesn’t feel good, have embraced Dr. Becky’s empowering and effective approach, a model that prioritizes connecting with our kids over correcting them.

Parents have long been sold a model of childrearing that simply doesn’t work. From reward charts to time outs, many popular parenting approaches are based on shaping behavior, not raising humans. These techniques don’t build the skills kids need for life, or account for their complex emotional needs. Add to that parents’ complicated relationships with their own upbringings, and it’s easy to see why so many caretakers feel lost, burned out, and worried they’re failing their kids. In Good Inside, Dr. Becky shares her parenting philosophy, complete with actionable strategies, that will help parents move from uncertainty and self-blame to confidence and sturdy leadership.

Offering perspective-shifting parenting principles and troubleshooting for specific scenarios—including sibling rivalry, separation anxiety, tantrums, and more—Good Inside is a comprehensive resource for a generation of parents looking for a new way to raise their kids while still setting them up for a lifetime of self-regulation, confidence, and resilience.