“In this deeply researched social history of six decades of gay fathers, lesbian mothers, and their children, Rivers seamlessly blends legal materials, oral histories, personal correspondence, and archival materials of grassroots organizations. . . . Essential. All levels/libraries.” — CHOICE
“[Rivers’s] engaging and well-researched social history argues that the history of lesbian mothers, gay fathers, and their children challenges a foundational American belief that the family is heterosexual and that gays and lesbians are childless. . . . A necessary corrective.” — American Historical Review
“Rivers explores how lesbian and gay parents have worked to expand the cultural and legal definitions of family since the 1950s.” — Stanford Magazine
“Opens up a largely unexplored history.” — Women’s Review of Books
“An important history of lesbian mothers, gay fathers, and their children.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
“A terrific book. In Rivers’s skillful hands, 'family' becomes far more than the longstanding bulwark for conventional American values — it becomes instead a vibrant site of resistance to the racist, sexist, and heterosexist hierarchies foundational to such values.” — Leisa Meyer, College of William & Mary
“Daniel Rivers has produced a major contribution to family history, to LGBT history, and to the history of children. Weaving together legal sources, interviews, personal papers, and the archives of grassroots community organizations, Radical Relations demonstrates the transformational impact of lesbians and gay men on each other, and on the generations of children that they fought to raise.” — Claire Bond Potter, professor of history, The New School for Public Engagement
