12. A non-fiction book: The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan

List Progress: 7/30

So many branches of history are erased from mainstream records: histories of racial minorities, of sexual minorities, of the disenfranchised. Hugh Ryan’s 2022 history looks at a specific location that existed in the intersection of all of these categories: a women’s prison in Greenwich Village. The Women’s House of Detention, or the “House of D” as it was colloquially known, was open from 1929 to 1974 in the middle of Manhattan and saw thousands upon thousands of women pass through its doors, the majority of whom were poor, queer, Black, or many of the above. Their existence and the impact the House of D had on the development of Greenwich Village’s character have largely been erased, but Ryan goes above and beyond to dig into long-forgotten records and bring this niche history to life.

Ryan has a fairly casual writing style, but that does not at all detract from the academic rigor shown in his research. He is meticulous in his journey through the years of the House of D’s operation, focusing on both specific women as they can be traced through their social worker’s records of them, and the larger social contexts in which they existed, both in- and out-side of the jail. Ryan also has no hesitation in calling out problems with the criminal legal system that exist to this day (and some that have just gotten worse since the House of D’s closure). This is no gentle admonition about crimes of the past, it is a call to action for the future and a reminder of how short we’ve come. The conversational tone may put more serious academics or historians on edge, but it makes the book very readable for a layperson, which feels like a part of Ryan’s larger goals with the book.

The House of D may be a footnote in the history of queer revolution, prison abolition and New York City, but The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison gives it the spotlight and refuses to have it shoved back into the shadows.

Would I Recommend It: Yes.