Date: June 10th 2009

(Mailing list information, including unsubscription instructions,
is located at the end of this message.)
__

June 28 will mark the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots—the 1969 series of demonstrations in New York City credited, by some, as the precipitating event of the contemporary L.G.B.T. rights movement---and we at Soft Skull want to take this opportunity to remind our readers of Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s timely and apt volume, That’s Revolting: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation, the new revised and expanded edition.

http://softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-56-5

Mattilda’s breakthrough book reinvigorates the spirit of radical, anti-assimilationist queer politics that sparked the riots forty years ago and that, increasingly, is subsumed by a univocal gay mainstream. As part of this radical tradition, it stands out for including contributors who were in fact around for Stonewall and who can rescue the legacy of the riots from the fate of an idealized and irrelevant myth—contributors who highlight the important ways in which this radical queer strain informs the current political landscape. The activists, scholars, writers, and artists of That’s Revolting speak with refreshing candor and without apology. They speak from the spirit of protest that emerged at the Stonewall Inn in 1969, insisting always that queers be accepted on their own terms. What is unique, beautiful, valuable—and endangered—in queer culture is, in this volume, brought back to its rightful place on the front lines of the struggle for equality (which does not mean same
ness).

We would be happy to put interested parties in touch with Mattilda, to discuss possible interviews, events, etc. Just shoot an e-mail to publicity@softskull.com.

A full press release, including editor bio, can be found below.

For related titles from other houses, also check out Martin Duberman’s new memoir, Waiting to Land, from our colleagues at New Press; and Smash the Church, Smash the State!: The Early Years of Gay Liberation, a new title from City Lights.

That’s Revolting: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation
New and expanded edition; edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Now available, Trade Paperback Original, $19.95
1-59376-195-3
Counterpoint / Soft Skull / www.softskull.com
Distributed by Publishers Group West

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Anne Horowitz
anne@softskull.com

The 2005 edition was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist; Revised Edition Issued in Summer 2008!


“That’s Revolting! Is a pre-emptive line in the sand, a radical embrace of the political creativity of the ‘outsider’ . . . does more than map out the nether regions of queer identity politics . . . full of the collective wisdom of generations of activists determined to take the social space needed to live their lives.” —Left Turn
As an assimilationist gay mainstream wields increasing power, the focus of gay struggle has become limited to marriage, military service, and adoption. The gay mainstream presents a sanitized, straight-friendly version of gay identity which makes it safe for Richard Chamberlain or Rosie O'Donnell to come out and still rake in the bucks. By the twisted priorities of this gay mainstream, it’s okay to oppose a queer youth shelter because it might interfere with property values, or to fight against the inclusion of transgendered people under hate crimes legislation because this might not appeal to straight voters.

As the gay mainstream prioritizes the attainment of straight privilege over all else, it drains queer identity of any meaning, relevance, or cultural value—and calls this progress. That's Revolting! (New revised and expanded edition, Soft Skull Press / Counterpoint; Trade Paper Original; June 2008; $19.95; 978-1-59376-195-0) shows us what the new queer resistance looks like, using queer identity and struggle as a starting point from which to reframe, reclaim, and re-shape the world. Edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, That's Revolting! brings the post-identity politics of a new generation of renegade queers to light, as well as selections that cover everything from rabble-rousing with the Gay Liberation Front in the 1960s to blowing up buildings with the George Jackson Brigade in the 1970s, current-day rural queer youth organizing in Massachusetts to the infamous Drop the Debt / Stop AIDS action in New York. The collection is both a blueprint and a call to action.

Praise for That’s Revolting!
“Mattilda has performed the Herculean task of gathering all my favorite smart, irreverent, talented, fierce, funny and fabulous people together in one place. I can’t wait to see what happens in the world once That's Revolting! has been out there for a while.” —Kate Bornstein

“Startlingly bold and provocative.” —Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

“That’s Revolting! is a passionate cacophony denouncing the gentrification of gay culture, authored by the genderqueers, perverts, and other assorted visionaries excluded by the new Will & Grace banality.” —San Francisco Bay Guardian

“This lively collection of new queer resistance challenges the commodified view of gay/queer identity by exploring struggles to transform gender, revolutionize sexuality, and build community/family beyond traditional models.” —Library Journal

“That's Revolting! reads like a patchwork alternative history of the gay ’90s and 2000s: the part queers played in the anti-globalization movement, their responses to racist 'quality-of-life' policing, how they coped with welfare reform and the withering of social services and their valiant efforts to banish tacky corporate sponsorship from gay pride parades.” —In These Times

About the Author:
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is the editor of four anthologies, including, most recently, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity (Seal Press 2007). She is the author of So Many Ways to Sleep Badly (City Lights) and Pulling Taffy (Suspect Thoughts), and her writing appears in a wide range of publications, including Bitch, Utne Reader, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Maximumrocknroll, and make/shift. Mattilda’s activism has included ACT UP in the early ’90s, Fed Up Queers in the late ’90s, and Gay Shame on both coasts.







PLEASE SEND TWO TEARSHEETS OF ANY REVIEW OR MENTION



--
The following information is a reminder of your current mailing
list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list:
Soft Skull Media

using the following email:
example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by
visiting the following URL:

<http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/Soft_Skull_Media/>;

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the
entire address. Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break
this automatic unsubscribe mechanism.

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/list/Soft_Skull_Media>;

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:publicity@softskull.com>;

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:



Mailing List Powered by Dada Mail
http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/what_is_dada_mail/