Ky Schevers

Another cool memoir is Intimate Politics by Bettina Aptheker. Aptheker is the daughter of a famous Communist writer. She grew up in the Communist Party, later took part in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and was friends with Angela Davis.

She later came out as a lesbian, got involved with the feminist movement, broke with the Communist Party and came to terms with how her father had sexually abused her as a child. She's a good writer and had a very interesting life.

Another memoir I enjoyed was Apples and Oranges by Jan Clausan. Clausan's a writer/poet who was part of the lesbian feminist community in NYC. She writes about her time in the community and how her life changed radically when she feel in love with a man.

She ended up leaving her partner of many years and was forced to change how she made sense of herself and her life. Another thoughtful examination of the strengths and limitations of lesbian feminism. Also considers how people and groups make sense of and catergorize sexuality.

Apples and Oranges is also on Hoopla (I've spent a lot of time browsing and reading books off there if you haven't figured that out already).

A final lesbian history book that I also found on Hoopla, from more distant but terrifyingly relevant time is Paper Bullets. Paper Bullets is about the artist/writer couple Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe who made and distrubuted art/counterpropaganda to resist the Nazis.

Lucy Schwob is better known by her artist name Claude Cahun and for her surreal genderbending photography. The book highlights the role her partner played in creating the art she's famous for. I had no idea that either women took part in anti-fascist resistance during WW2.

Claude Calhoun is amazing.