Conduct Unbecoming, Randy Shilts
Conduct Unbecoming, Randy Shilts
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
Club: $17.49

Conduct Unbecoming
Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military

Author: Randy Shilts

Narrator: Daniel Henning

Unabridged: 38 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/14/2021


Synopsis

"A thoroughly researched and engrossingly readable history" of gay men and women in the American armed forces by the author of And the Band Played On—The New York Times Book Review.

Published during the same year the American military instituted Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and eighteen years before President Barack Obama repealed it, Conduct Unbecoming is a landmark work of social justice and a searing indictment of the military establishment's historic bigotry toward its gay servicemen and women. Randy Shilts's eye-opening book describes the bravery, both exceptional and everyday, not only of gay soldiers throughout history, but also of gay men and women serving in our modern military. With each anecdote and investigation, Shilts systematically dismantles the arguments against allowing gays to serve in the military.

At once a history of the American military and an account of the gay rights movement, Conduct Unbecoming is a remarkable testament to the progress achieved for gays in the military—and a revealing look at how far we have yet to go.

About Randy Shilts

Randy Shilts (1951-1994) was a trailblazing American journalist and author who wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle for most of his life, creating the first gay beat in the newspaper world. In addition to his large body of reportage, Shilts also wrote three widely lauded bestselling books-And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, and Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military. Shilts remained a crucial figure in the advancement of gay rights until his death of complications from AIDS at the age of forty-two.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Beth on July 20, 2008

So I read this book not necessarily because the topic particularly interests me, but because I read And the Band Played On and fell in love with Shilt's journalistic style. He is one of the many people our society lost because of AIDS and working my way through his three books has brought to my mind......more

Goodreads review by Nev on October 05, 2021

I didn’t ever expect to listen to a THIRTY EIGHT hour long nonfiction audiobook about the history of LGBTQ+ discrimination in the US military, but here we are. I picked this up because I enjoyed the other nonfiction book I read from Randy Shilts, And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AID......more

Goodreads review by Anusha on January 10, 2023

This book covers the history of lesbians and gay people in the United States military. Randy Shilts expertly recounts well-researched and personal stories of discrimination and solidarity, and also uncovers the mainly-untold stories of many US soldiers across history. Shilts's journalistic style is......more

Goodreads review by Erik on November 07, 2010

I was certainly impressed with Shilts’s reportorial and narrative skills when I read his biography of iconic gay political pioneer Harvey Milk a few short years back, but I had little idea just how massively well-researched and near flawlessly penned his history of gays in the military was until I s......more

Goodreads review by John on June 05, 2022

Although I read this nearly 30 years after the publication, it is still relevant to the world today. Even after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (and its repeal), and the ban on LGBTQ+ serving in the armed forces, the same neuroses, paranoia, and dogma that was constant from the 1950's to the 1990's is still......more