Loving Before Loving: A Marriage in Black and White
Autor Joan Steinau Lesteren Limba Engleză Paperback – 8 dec 2026
Braiding intellectual, personal, and political history, Lester tells the story of a writer and activist fighting for love and justice before, during, and after the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision striking down bans on interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia. She describes her own shifts in consciousness, from an activist climbing police barricades by day and reading and writing late into the night to a woman navigating the coming-out process in midlife, before finding the publishing success she had dreamed of. Speaking candidly about every facet of her life, Lester illuminates her journey to fulfillment and healing.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780299331047
ISBN-10: 0299331040
Pagini: 286
Ilustrații: 22 b-w illus.
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 28 mm
Editura: University of Wisconsin Press
Colecția University of Wisconsin Press
ISBN-10: 0299331040
Pagini: 286
Ilustrații: 22 b-w illus.
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 28 mm
Editura: University of Wisconsin Press
Colecția University of Wisconsin Press
Notă biografică
Joan Steinau Lester is an award-winning commentator, columnist, and author of critically acclaimed books, including Mama’s Child and Black, White, Other. Her writing has appeared in such publications as USA Today, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Cosmopolitan, and Huffington Post.
Recenzii
“This book is the real deal, the way it was. I love it!”
“With its novelistic detail and earnest but imperfect characters, this memoir reveals more than most about what makes activists tick. A frank love story set amid the ideals of the 1960s.”
“Dr. Lester is a storyteller who weaves notable civil rights leaders, historical events, and personal memories that will keep you turning pages and will serve as a model for the challenge of the diversity, equity, and inclusion work that continues to this day.”
“This well-told story gives us a front row seat to the events that are unfolding in the civil rights and women’s rights movements in the 1960s and ’70s. The tough choices haven’t changed—family, love, self-care, community. How do we find grace?”
“Vividly written and profoundly moving, Lester’s journey—as wife, mother, activist—is politically insightful and prescient. Since her vigorous, heartfelt observations and analyses are generative and healing, this memoir is needed now when our racial conflicts, always profound, continue to intensify.”
“This intimate, brave memoir is also one that many women will recognize as their own: a lifetime spent trying to heal others and the world, only to discover one must start with oneself.”
“Exceptional. It is a real challenge to write a memoir that is intellectually deep, psychologically sophisticated, and politically principled that is also engaging, accessible, funny, and tender. Loving Before Loving certainly is all that. What a remarkable ride.”
“A compelling and intimate account of how the social movements from the ’60s to the ’90s shaped so many women’s lives. Lester’s insightful narrative on how the persistence of violence based on race, class, and gender shapes personal as well as political life is still relevant today. It informs, inspires, and entertains.”
“Lester’s memoir unfurls a painful and rewarding road map through a writer’s life and the social history that shaped it, revealing the peaks and valleys that made her the phenomenal writer she is today. Once she embraced the ‘urgent poetics’ of writing as her own there was no stopping her.”
“Reminiscent of Anatole Broyand’s When Kafka Was the Rage, Lester’s poignant literary memoir explores the timeless theme of the education of a writer in a time of great social change—but, importantly, this time from a woman’s point of view. Lester’s writing is beautifully fluid and insightful, her story at once deeply personal and largely political—carving out what eventually becomes an influential creative life, doing so in a world that consistently asks her, and women like her, to suspend their dreams in order to heed the voices of the men and others surrounding them. A powerful memoir. A magnificent read!”
“Brave and compelling. Lester’s ultimate triumph felt like my own celebration, after I shared her remarkable journey through pivotal social movements and personal pain. Brava!”
“Charts with frankness one writer’s journey to find fulfillment. Intense and deeply felt, this memoir plumbs the depths and creates a sharp snapshot of a young girl initially unsure of her path, through to a mature woman who understands exactly where her passion lies. Speaking candidly about every facet of her life, Lester opens a door into the emotional process required to succeed as a writer. What a compelling read!”
“Lester shows that the personal is political and the political is personal. Beautifully written, important history. An extraordinary book.”
“More than just an exploration of how Lester shed her 1950s upbringing, with its emphasis on marriage and motherhood, to become a writer. The book is also a page-turning journey through the civil rights and women’s movements, where she marched and protested and explored the meaning of race and being female in American society. Those battles gave Lester the strength to claim her rightful position as an acclaimed essayist, biographer, and novelist. You will be cheering for the heroine all the way through the book.”
“This book is laced with passion and anger—both personal and political—that buffets and thwarts Lester but forces her to hold tight to her dreams. Her triumphant path to publication is an ending we can all savor. Over the years, her mentors are often books that come to her at just the right time, and seeing them through her eyes is a glorious reminder of their power. Perhaps with this memoir, Lester will slip into the canon alongside her mentors.”
“Lester went from ‘armchair Red’ to ‘armchair lesbian.’ And what an armchair it was! From her unique vantage point, she delivers a beautiful memoir about being a white woman married to a black man when it was illegal in more than two dozen states; from being a single mother to being an avowed radical, before making her ‘decision’ to become a lesbian. This memoir, written with a skilled, wholly human hand, is as intensely personal as it is universal.”
“With its novelistic detail and earnest but imperfect characters, this memoir reveals more than most about what makes activists tick. A frank love story set amid the ideals of the 1960s.”
“Dr. Lester is a storyteller who weaves notable civil rights leaders, historical events, and personal memories that will keep you turning pages and will serve as a model for the challenge of the diversity, equity, and inclusion work that continues to this day.”
“This well-told story gives us a front row seat to the events that are unfolding in the civil rights and women’s rights movements in the 1960s and ’70s. The tough choices haven’t changed—family, love, self-care, community. How do we find grace?”
“Vividly written and profoundly moving, Lester’s journey—as wife, mother, activist—is politically insightful and prescient. Since her vigorous, heartfelt observations and analyses are generative and healing, this memoir is needed now when our racial conflicts, always profound, continue to intensify.”
“This intimate, brave memoir is also one that many women will recognize as their own: a lifetime spent trying to heal others and the world, only to discover one must start with oneself.”
“Exceptional. It is a real challenge to write a memoir that is intellectually deep, psychologically sophisticated, and politically principled that is also engaging, accessible, funny, and tender. Loving Before Loving certainly is all that. What a remarkable ride.”
“A compelling and intimate account of how the social movements from the ’60s to the ’90s shaped so many women’s lives. Lester’s insightful narrative on how the persistence of violence based on race, class, and gender shapes personal as well as political life is still relevant today. It informs, inspires, and entertains.”
“Lester’s memoir unfurls a painful and rewarding road map through a writer’s life and the social history that shaped it, revealing the peaks and valleys that made her the phenomenal writer she is today. Once she embraced the ‘urgent poetics’ of writing as her own there was no stopping her.”
“Reminiscent of Anatole Broyand’s When Kafka Was the Rage, Lester’s poignant literary memoir explores the timeless theme of the education of a writer in a time of great social change—but, importantly, this time from a woman’s point of view. Lester’s writing is beautifully fluid and insightful, her story at once deeply personal and largely political—carving out what eventually becomes an influential creative life, doing so in a world that consistently asks her, and women like her, to suspend their dreams in order to heed the voices of the men and others surrounding them. A powerful memoir. A magnificent read!”
“Brave and compelling. Lester’s ultimate triumph felt like my own celebration, after I shared her remarkable journey through pivotal social movements and personal pain. Brava!”
“Charts with frankness one writer’s journey to find fulfillment. Intense and deeply felt, this memoir plumbs the depths and creates a sharp snapshot of a young girl initially unsure of her path, through to a mature woman who understands exactly where her passion lies. Speaking candidly about every facet of her life, Lester opens a door into the emotional process required to succeed as a writer. What a compelling read!”
“Lester shows that the personal is political and the political is personal. Beautifully written, important history. An extraordinary book.”
“More than just an exploration of how Lester shed her 1950s upbringing, with its emphasis on marriage and motherhood, to become a writer. The book is also a page-turning journey through the civil rights and women’s movements, where she marched and protested and explored the meaning of race and being female in American society. Those battles gave Lester the strength to claim her rightful position as an acclaimed essayist, biographer, and novelist. You will be cheering for the heroine all the way through the book.”
“This book is laced with passion and anger—both personal and political—that buffets and thwarts Lester but forces her to hold tight to her dreams. Her triumphant path to publication is an ending we can all savor. Over the years, her mentors are often books that come to her at just the right time, and seeing them through her eyes is a glorious reminder of their power. Perhaps with this memoir, Lester will slip into the canon alongside her mentors.”
“Lester went from ‘armchair Red’ to ‘armchair lesbian.’ And what an armchair it was! From her unique vantage point, she delivers a beautiful memoir about being a white woman married to a black man when it was illegal in more than two dozen states; from being a single mother to being an avowed radical, before making her ‘decision’ to become a lesbian. This memoir, written with a skilled, wholly human hand, is as intensely personal as it is universal.”
Descriere
Writer and activist Joan Steinau Lester fought for love and justice before, during, and after the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision in Loving v. Virginia. In this riveting and deeply personal memoir, she eloquently communicates the deep pains of sexism, racism, and intimate betrayal.