Outlaw Marriages links 15 notable Americans by a common thread: the same-sex relationships that sustained each of them and made their work possible. It's a short book, especially given the scope of its material, but Rodger Streitmatter manages to illuminate the main theme concisely without ever selling short his subjects. Each chapter focuses on the relationship of a couple whose collaboration left a mark on American culture--even if the public was only aware of one of them--starting with Walt Whitman's long-term courtship of Peter Doyle. Other literary couples Streitmatter discusses include James Baldwin and his partnership with Lucien Happersberger, and the well-known pair Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Social reformer Jane Addams and her wife-in-all-but-law Mary Rozet Smith merit a chapter, as do actress Greta Garbo and Mercedes de Acosta and composer Aaron Copland and Victor Kraft, among several other well-known figures.
Outlaw Marriages serves less as a comprehensive biography of any of its subjects than as an overview of committed same-sex relationships and their long history in the United States (even if they have rarely been sanctioned by law). Streitmatter focuses on the support each half of these couples gave the other, as well as their romantic and erotic relationships, demonstrating that they all had a true "marriage" even if it was never committed to paper. Outlaw Marriages is a testament to the enduring power of human partnership and love, regardless of sex. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket