by David Roberts
 
A documenting of LGBTQ+ activism which has curated its sources with diligence and care, collecting them into encyclopaedic storytelling and a luxurious visual feast. 
 
David Roberts qualifies his tome: “I am not an expert on queer activism. I’m an enthusiast, a seeker of stories that illustrate the fight for the freedom of all queer people to be themselves without fear or persecution”. It’s a far too modest statement given that the existing, slim, UK queer history titles for children and young people, while sometime of great quality, have never witnessed our history with such range, depth nor through such a beautiful panorama. 
 
This is a loving tribute to queer protest from the second half of the 20th century to the present which, unusually for Western overviews of queer history, keeps the UK experience as its centrepiece, while still drawing necessarily on parallel North American as well as wider international events.  
 
The formatting invites the reader to plunge in and out of each decade, opening each chapter with a timeline summarising landmarks such as legislative reforms, lgbtq+ ‘firsts’ in the media and popular culture, iconic queer artists and agitators, the emergence of campaigning and lobbying groups. This is followed in each instance by a ‘Voices of…’ section, a double page spread honouring notable figures, each with a bubble speech quote. 
 
The coverage is breathtaking and defies summaries. This reviewer’s highlights include: meeting the “gay father of the Windrush generation”; the 1960s-originated Polari slang shared by gay men; a sit-in at the Marble Arch branch of burger bar, Wimpy, by 1970s radical drag campaigners; the groundbreaking 1973 BBC’s Open Door interview with four trans women; the “surprising alliance” in 1984 of a South Wales mining community with young LGBTQ+ London activists;  the first female pre-watershed same-sex kiss on TV (1984, Brookside); the founding of Shakti, a network for queer Asians by queer Asians; lesbian activists’ storming of the BBC studios during its live news broadcast.
 
Add to this narrative content, Robert’s artwork, generously spread over entire single and double pages. Joining pen and ink, watercolour and crayons and drawing on a background in fashion design, Roberts pays meticulous attention to clothing, accessories, hairstyles in such a way that his subjects, whether famous or lesser known protestors, glow with visual eloquence. Spreads are imprinted with the iconography of activism: banners, flags, badges, block print background slogans. 
 
The physical heft of the book, the accessibility of the text spacing, the composition of the pages elevate this in to what should be a permanent presence in any classroom and library collection. Its power is surely self-evident. The final, 21st century, timeline leaves a chill, ending with President Trump’s rollbacks of queer rights and freedoms. Hope comes in the form of a legacy-book like this one. “We are the caretakers of these memories, which are passed on to us with all the hope that is held within them…These are the people who helped move the world forward. Their stories are the foundation upon which the next generation can build”. Age 14+, Hardback 210pp
 
 Themes: LGBTQ+