I really wanted to be able to give this book five stars, because this is an extremely important subject that receives far to little attention. I'm giving it three stars, because I believe it doesn't competently handle the systematic criminalization of trans women.

The books analysis of the "T" in th ...more

This book is excellent. It was a "hard" read mostly because it is obviously not the most uplifting subject matter. This book is a grim reminder that we have come a long way but really not as far as we think and being able to marry is awesome but we can't forget about other "rights" either. I am talk ...more

from my review in Monthly Review:

In 1513, en route to Panama, Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa ordered forty Quaraca men to be ripped apart by his hunting dogs. Their offense? Being “dressed as women” and having sexual relations with each other. The homophobia and transphobia behind Balbo

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This is, as far as I'm concerned, a must read.

It's a sharp analysis of the criminalization of sexual diversity and gender variance, and centers the experiences of people of color, people living in poverty, immigrants, and trans women and men. The writing is very concrete, with lots of stories and ev ...more

"We live in a country [and world] where heteronormativity, the system of framing heterosexuality-- constrained within a nuclear family structure and shaped by raced, classed, and rigidly dichotomous constructions of gender-- is predicated as fundamental to society, and as the only "natural" and acce ...more

I had hoped that this book would be the gay equivalent of Michelle Alexander's stellar "The New Jim Crow," but it's not. It lacks the measured and systematic structure of that book, as well as its style. The research in "(In)Justice" is fantastic and fascinating, but it fails to cohere as either a w ...more

a must for anyone seeking a comprehensive yet very readable analysis of the subjugation and ciminalization of queer folks. ...more

I rated this book 3 stars mainly for the importance of the content. Honestly, it was a little hard for me to read because it read like an essay and the subject was of course depressing. I found myself feeling disoriented at times by the flow of the book and sometimes the same thing was repeated seve ...more

This is a phenomenal, heavily source book detailing the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people in the United States, dating from the beginning of American colonization to present day. Wonderfully written and an excellent resource that is just as timely now as it was when it was written almost ten years ag ...more

The authors of Queer (In)Justice set out to prove two complementary theses. The first deals with the tendency of the "criminal legal system" to deal more harshly with LGBT citizens than with others, and to assume guilt or criminality on the basis of that orientation/identity. It is difficult, based ...more