Marsha
The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Featured in The New York Times's Nonfiction to Read This Spring
Black transgender luminary Tourmaline brings to life the first definitive biography of the revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson, one of the most important and remarkable figures in LGBTQIA+ history, revealing her story, her impact, and her legacy.
“She is the preeminent and foremost scholar on Marsha P. Johnson. . . . To us, Tourmaline is the expert.”—Janet Mock, Allure
“Thank god the revolution has begun, honey.” Rumor has it that after Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, she picked up a shard of broken mirror to fix her makeup. Marsha, a legendary Black transgender activist, embodied both the beauty and the struggle of the early gay rights movement. Her work sparked the progress we see today, yet there has never been a definitive record of her life. Until now.
Written with sparkling prose, Tourmaline’s richly researched biography Marsha finally brings this iconic figure to life, in full color. We vividly meet Marsha as both an activist and artist: She performed with RuPaul and with the internationally renowned drag troupe The Hot Peaches. She was a muse to countless artists from Andy Warhol to the band Earth, Wind & Fire. And she continues to inspire people today.
Marsha didn’t wait to be freed; she declared herself free and told the world to catch up. Her story promises to inspire readers to live as their most liberated, unruly, vibrant, and whole selves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Artist and filmmaker Tourmaline debuts with an illuminating biography of Marsha P. Johnson, a central force in the Stonewall uprising and nascent LGBTQ+ rights movement. Tourmaline recreates Johnson's lesser-known early years, from her childhood in racially segregated Elizabeth, N.J., with a "revered" mother who still wouldn't let her "wear girls' clothes" to her youth spent hustling in Times Square, "where trans people came to survive and thrive together." Tourmaline depicts the 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn with cinematic intensity, portraying Johnson as akin to "a woman fighting the British in the Revolutionary War." The uprising galvanized Johnson's activism, leading to her participation in other protests, her caregiving for those with AIDS, and her cofounding of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). The book masters the complex balance of "joy alternating with... profound sadness" inherent in Johnson's life, which, despite the defiant resilience of her own statements ("I'm like a cat... I've been almost killed a million times now"), was rife with struggles with housing, medical care, disability, loss, and violence. Her still-unresolved death—Johnson was found in the Hudson River in July 1992 and her death was quickly ruled a suicide—was "emblematic of the way... trans lives have been seen as disposable by the state," Tourmaline sharply observes. It's a poignant portrait of a figure whose "greater sense of freedom" still inspires.
Customer Reviews
M.M
Beautiful, timeless, eternal