The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk

Harvey Milk has become, deservedly, something of a legend in the gay rights movement and in the broader history of San Francisco politics. In The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, Randy Shilts attempts to separate man from myth and then put it back together again. The result is a book which is accessible to both a casual and more academic audience.Shilts's writing style is fresh and casual. It is almost as though the man were sitting in a room having a conversation with you. Episodes are presented as a series of stories that flow throughout the book. So for example, we learn what Milk's lover Scott was doing when he heard the news of his assassination. The writing style lends itself well to a biography and works to make Milk more "human" than might otherwise be achieved.Shilts's writing style can be somewhat problematic, however, in that the story does not necessarily flow in a linear fashion. For the reader who is interested in the story of Milk from a conceptual or casual interest, this should not be a problem. It could be more problematic, however, for the academic reader looking for a better picture of the linear timeline. A timeline in the appendices of this book would have served this purpose well.Perhaps one of the greatest joys of this book, however, is reading about Milk's fight in his own words. Shilts includes transcripts of some of Milk's more famous speeches in which we learn a great deal about Milk's political beliefs and his thought process in those short months immediately preceeding and during his tenure as Supervisor. These speeches, included in the appendix, should not be skipped as they will help to ground the concepts discussed throughout the biography.Readers interested in the aftermath of Milk's assassination or in the politics of San Francisco since the assassination would be well-served to utilize a second reference as Shilts's writing stops in the early 1980's and a great deal has changed in that time.The Mayor of Castro Street is a well-researched and well-told history of Harvey Milk and the movement he helped to create. It should be of particular interest to the reader interested in LGBT literature in that it has so fundamentally informed the LGBT movement since. This is one book that I believe deserves to be on everyone's shelf.

I really enjoyed "The Mayor of Castro Street: Life and Times of Harvey Milk". It was really specific about the life of Harvey Milk from the beginning to events past the assasination. I have even let one of my fellow workers borrow it. It reminded me of my life in San Francisco. I was there studying at the American Conservatory Theatre, and several other places around town that had acting classes or schools. In 1978 I went the ACT Summer Congress. Many people in my class also participate in the march on City Hall. I went to the Opera House to hear the memorial service. I couldn't get inside. It was great to be reminded of his interest in theatre and opera. The book really helped me interpret the Milk assasination scene in the movie which while I appreciated seeing the opera, it was made clear by the section in the book that said that he had gone to the opera on Saturday night with the woman who was Tosca in his first opera while watching the last Tosca he saw on stage. The day of the riot was my birthday, and I was in a play. Rehearsal got over early that night, and I went home in such a way to miss whatever activity happened at City Hall. Several people in the play went over there. We debriefed it at the next rehearsal. One of the women in the play took an active part. Her story was interesting because she was married and had a daughter. She also sange with the Gay Men's Chorus.

I found "The Mayor of Castro Street", to be the best took I used for my research paper. I chose to research Harvey Milk for my Good Books exam because the Gay Movement is important and more of us need to be educated on it. You always hear Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and the Slaves, and even the Civil Rights Movement. I respect all of what they stood for, I read many books on Martin Luther King as a child and rather enjoyed them. But, 2009 is the year to recognize the Gays. The Stonewall Riots, The Gay Civil Rights Movement, I am gay and a lot of my friends are and we are just now beginning to be treated with respect. I hope one day soon in my lifetime Gay Marriage will be legal. It doesn't matter who you love, I am not in love yet, but I am attracted to men and have always been. Harvey Milk would be sad to know that 30 years after his death, Gay Marriage is still illegal. Maybe if more gay rights activists read this book, we'll be lucky enough to see a Gay president in our lifetime.

The book contains a lot of information about Milk's life, which in itself is fascinating. My understanding is that Shilts was a friend of Milk's, which gives him insight (if biased) into the social circle of the Castro community.The book's format is almost episodic, with each small section prefaced with an italicized tag line of sorts that leads into the story. It seems clear that this is a first effort at a book by Shilts, as some of the writing feels a little unpolished.The big question is where the facts of the story end and the opinion begins. The book reads almost like a novel, and it's hard to tell if Shilts has added any of his own ideas about the behind-closed-doors aspects of Milk's life, whether he's repeating rumours he's heard, or whether the events are backed up by actual evidence.Whether it's 100% true or not, it makes for a very compelling read.

Quick delivery. Thank you ***

Got for a school report my 17 year old was doing. Their comment, “It did what it was supposed to do. It's biography. So it's kinda boring.“

このドキュメンタリーは、取材の詳細なことに驚きます。K'sシネマの映画を見て、検索から見つけました。邦訳の有無は知りません。学校英語ではなくて、スラングみたいのも使われていて、面白い。これもまた、出会いですね。