Perseus Academic: We Walk Alone by Ann Aldrich

In 1955, this groundbreaking pulp revealed “underground” lesbian life in Greenwich Village. Part Kinsey-esque portraits of real people, part you-are-there reports on the scene in bars and offices and at clubs and house parties, this is an authentic “cultural artifact” of a resilient community on the cusp of change.

Ann Aldrich is one of many pseudonyms for the prolific author Marijane Meaker, who is better known under the names M. E. Kerr and Mary James. Aldrich wrote five non-fiction titles that openly chronicle the lives of lesbians through the 50s, 60s and early 70s. Marijane Meaker is the author of over 40 works of fiction and non-fiction ranging from young adult bestsellers like Deliver Us from Evie (HarperTrophy 1995) to pulp fiction sensations, Spring Fire (Cleis Press 2004), to a tell-all memoir, Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s (Cleis Press 2003). She lives and teaches a writing workshop in East Hampton, NY. Stephanie Foote is an Assistant Professor of English and Gender studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is the author of numerous essays exploring gender issues and Regional Fictions: Culture and Identity in nineteenth Century American Literature (University of Wisconsin Press, 2001).