Last month, I read some books like I do every month. Wow. That was an inspired opening. I just read A Desired Past by Leila J. Rupp. Its a history of same-sex relationships and love. As a history student, I thought this book was perfectly written. Rupp was very careful to identify her terms with careful definitions. For example, she does not provide the reader with terms homosexual to describe a monolithic group. One of the major threads throughout the book is that “social minorities” like gay people cannot be defined in a vacuum.

She also goes to lengths to explain that people who were identified as lesbians or gay by historians and scholars did not always regard themselves as such. She uses her current relationship with her partner to make parallels that appeal to the reader’s emotion. Rupp does write exquisitely about her relationship to her subjects and it is apparent why she cares and she believes is at stake. One hopes that other scholars can carefully write about subjects that they find integral to their own lives with the same reflection and dedication to reporting the truth that they have worked so hard to uncover.

This book is great for people who want to learn more about GLBT studies, women’s studies, history or to just read a great historical study. I know I will be referring to this as I delve further and further into my own studies.