'If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door'
This is the definitive biography of Harvey Milk, the man whose personal life, public career, and cold-blooded assassination mirrored the dramatic emergence of the gay community as a political power in 1970s America.
Milk was the first openly gay politician to hold public office in the United States. He moved to San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men to the city's Castro district and took advantage of the neighbourhood's growing political and economic power to promote gay rights. Campaigning against the odds, and in the face of hate and death threats, Milk's political flair finally earned him a seat as a City Supervisor in 1977. But only eleven months later he was gunned down by a fellow City Supervisor.
The Mayor of Castro Street is the emotionally-charged story of personal tragedy and political intrigue, murder at City Hall and massive riots in the streets, the miscarriage of justice and the affirmation of human rights and gay hope.
By:
Randy Shilts (author)
Imprint: Atlantic Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main
Dimensions:
Height: 198mm,
Width: 129mm,
Spine: 34mm
Weight: 410g
ISBN: 9781838956585
ISBN 10: 1838956581
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 16 March 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
ELT Advanced
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
PART I: THE YEARS WITHOUT HOPE 1: The Men Without Their Shirts 2: Gay Everyman 3: Judy Garland's Dead 4: Sodom by the Sea PART II: THE MAYOR OF CASTRO STREET 5: Politics as Theater 6: The Early Invaders 7: The First Skirmish 8: Gay Main Street 9: Harvey Milk vs. The Machine 10: Orange Tuesday 11: Showdown on Castro Street PART III: SUPERVISOR HARVEY MILK 12: Media Star 13: Willkommen Castro 14: Deadline Pressure 15: Curtain Call 16: No Cross, No Crown PART IV: THE LEGEND BEGINS 17: Justice and Thieves 18: The Final Act Epilogue: Epilogue APPENDIX: APPENDIX I.: A Populist Looks at the City Speech to the Joint International Longshoremen & Warehouseman's Union of San Francisco September 10, 1973 II.: A City of Neighborhoods Address at Inaugural Dinner January 10, 1978 III.: The Hope Speech Keynote Address to Gay Caucus of California Democratic Council (San Diego) March 10, 1978 IV.: That's What America Is Speech at Gay Freedom Day Rally June 25, 1978 V.: Harvey Milk's Political Will Tape-recorded November 18, 1977
Randy Shilts was the author of the best-seller And The Band Played On, and an award-winning investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He died in 1994.
Reviews for The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
A no-holds-barred character study and a history of the local gay movement...an investigative piece on the mechanics of big-city government in all its expedient, backbiting splendour * Washington Post * A remarkable work... biography, social history and political machination. What makes it exceptional is an objective posture * Los Angeles Times *
