Bookseller Created
Our Most Anticipated Books of 2025
Our 2024 impact report is here!
Read now
Coming soon
Pre-order as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Sign up todayBefore Gender
Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950
Narrator
Sena Bryer
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
TBA
Language
English
Explore the trailblazing lives of 30 trans people who radically change everything you’ve been told about transgender history
Highlighting influential individuals from 1850-1950 who are all but unknown today, Eli Erlick shares 30 remarkable stories from romance to rebellion and mystery to murder. These narratives chronicle the grit, joy, and survival of trans people long before gender became an everyday term.
Organized into 4 parts paralleling today’s controversies over gender identity (kids, activists, workers, and athletes), Before Gender introduces figures whose forgotten stories transform the discussion
-
Mark and David Ferrow, two of the first trans teens to access gender-affirming medical treatment following overwhelming support from their friends, family, and neighbors. -
Gerda von Zobeltitz, a trans countess who instigated an LGBTQ+ riot 40 years before Stonewall. -
Frank Williams, a young trans man who was fired from over a dozen jobs for his gender. -
Frances Anderson, the world’s greatest female billiards player of the 1910s.
Bold and visionary, Erlick’s debut uncovers these lost stories from the depths of the archives to narrate trans lives in a way that has never been attempted before.
Eli Erlick is an internationally acclaimed activist, author, and educator. In 2011, she founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization dedicated to transforming the educational environment for trans students. In the years that followed, Erlick has been at the forefront of social justice issues through her research, organizing, and cultural criticism. Blending innovative research with cutting-edge activism, she undertook her doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Erlick’s work and writing have been featured in hundreds of outlets including The New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post. She lives in New York City, where she continues to fight for trans liberation. You can learn more about her work at www.elierlick.com.
Featured in this playlist...
Audiobook details
Author:
Eli Erlick
Narrator:
Sena Bryer
ISBN:
9780807018255
Length:
TBA
Language:
English
Publisher:
Beacon Press
Publication date:
May 27, 2025
Edition:
Unabridged
Reviews
“I’ve been researching transgender history for a long time, and many of these stories are new to me. What an eye-opening read, crisply written, on such a timely topic.”—Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution
“With this tour de force history of thirty trans people from 1850 to 1950, Eli Erlick shows us a whole new side to trans narratives that both informs and entertains.”
—Riki Wilchins, author of Queer Theory/Gender Theory
“We are so lucky to have a gifted storyteller unearth these lost tales of our trans and nonbinary forebears, and weave them all together into this heartwarming, uplifting book. Before Gender shows that history can be both entertaining and impactful while addressing the most pressing issues for trans people today.”
—Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw Expand reviews
Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks