Rocking the Closet continues garnering positive reviews from scholarly journals
I’m honored and delighted to share positive reviews from two scholarly journals regarding my 2019 book Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace. and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music (University of Illinois Press).
In his review of the book in the journal Western Folklore (Fall 2022) Jeremy S. Boorum notes the following,
“Overall, Rocking the Closet is a worthy contribution to better understanding the queering of postwar masculine identities and popular music. Stephens’ graduate training in American studies and popular culture suggests that this book would be most useful for those working in the areas of postwar U.S. cultural history, popular music studies, queer studies, and critical race studies. Additionally, this book also has resonance for scholars in folklore and ethnomusicology. Although not an ethnographic text, this monograph would be most useful to those folklorists and ethnomusicologists seeking historically based scholarship related to queer folkorists and queer ethnomusicology, and those interested in projects examining the invocation of authenticity in the realm of popular music.”
For more information: https://westernfolklore.org/WFVol81No4.html
Lisette Gallaher’s review in Popular Music and Society (December 2022) states,
“Vincent L. Stephens's analysis of four pop musicians in Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music turns our appreciation for the nuances of postwar queer culture on its head by exposing the intersectionalities between sexuality, gender, race, religion, and disability in the public's perception of celebrities and their queer identities. The author's survey of these four careers and personas strengthens queer studies and as a result contributes much to a deeper, more inclusive narrative of popular music studies,” and concludes that, “As a result of Stephens's thorough research, refreshing attention to the intersectionality of identities, and engaging, accessible tone, Rocking the Closet advances pop music studies by studying the oft-forgotten stories of queer life in mid-century American popular music.”
Interested? Rocking the Closet can be purchased directly through University of Illinois Press here: UI Press | Vincent L. Stephens | Rocking the Closet (uillinois.edu)