Direct From 1981
- Barthes, Roland, Camera Lucida (1st translation into English in 1981, published in 1980)
- Burns, Diane, Riding the One-Eyed Ford
- Davis, Angela, Women, Race and Class
- Dlugos, Tim, Entre Nous
- Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria E. Anzaldúa, editors, This Bridge Called My Back
- Myles, Eileen, Fresh Young Voice From The Plains
- Notley, Alice, Waltzing Matilda
- Thomas, Lorenzo, The Bathers
Directly and Indirectly About 1981
- Delany, Samuel, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (1999)
- Koestenbaum, Wayne, My 1980s and Other Essays (2013)
- Phillips-Fein, Kim, Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics (2017)
- Schulman, Sarah, The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination (2012)
- Curtis, Adam, Hypernormalisation (documentary) — Good historical context for 1981 New York/ global geopolitical situation from then until “now” — starts with NY bankruptcy and Donald Trump’s takeover of the city and then zooms out its lens considerably
Directly and Indirectly About Something About 1981
— The Hattie Gossett piece we talked about in our first meeting put me in mind of the short Billie Holliday biographical synopsis in Sady Doyle’s Trainwreck. I have many issues with this book!, but it’s a well-researched biographical account from a feminist perspective — hit me up if you’d like a pdf of the relevant pages. —Ian
— A recent book that I find great is Asad Haider’s Mistaken Identity, which engages in considerable depth with the Combahee River Collective Statement, and follows up on the later thoughts and statements of many Collective members. —Ian
Songs of 1981
- Diana Ross: I’m Coming Out
- Tom Tom Club: Genius of Love
- Dolly Parton: Working Girl
- Black Flag: Damaged (Album)
