Nonfiction

Rothblatt argues that the limiting of gender expression to male and female, based on biology is an artificial construction.

After a botched circumcision, Bruce was raised as a girl, creating a severe case of gender dysphoria as he grew up. Tragically, he committed suicide after the publication of this book.

Stunning black and white photographs accompanied by brief interviews explore many different embodiments of gender.

Transgender activist Green discusses the medical, social and legal aspects of gender change within the context of his own experiences.

Academics and activists explore the B and T of GLBT, challenging the Gay and Lesbian communities to be more inclusive.

A somewhat academic look at the transvestite and transgender experience.

Stunning photographs of male-to-female transsexuals accompanied by short personal comments.

FTM Khosla reveals himself to be interestingly misogynistic in his views of women in this memoir.

Bergman writes about butchness and other forms of being a gender outlaw.

Collection of photographs of cross-dressers relaxing together at their weekend house in the 1950s and 60s.

By presenting art from across the continent, past and present, coupled with astute commentary by a worldwide cross-section of artists and scholars, Africa: Arts & Cultures offers an innovative approach that allows the reader to better appreciate African art in its totality.

Combining individual stories with well-grounded research, Roscoe explores the role of the Native American berdache, known to exist in over 150 Native American tribes.

Jorgensen shocked the world with her public male-to-female transition in the 1950s, and went on to have a successful career in the entertainment industry.

Examining religious, literary, and historical sources, Hotchkiss looks at the phenomenon of, and fascination with female cross-dressing in the Middle Ages.

Professors Vern and Bonnie Bullough provide an historical and cultural overview of cross-dressing and gender presentation for both gender scholars and the general public.

A book for the male crossdresser and his family, urging self-acceptance, better communication, and dignity.

McCloskey reveals years of turmoil as a secret cross-dresser, and the difficulties she was forced to endure when she came out as transsexual.

Both a record of a personal journey, and a call to action to the Christian community.

Looks at the history of cross-dressing as performance art.

Contributors explore historical, social, medical, personal, and theoretical aspects of transgenderism.

Raised as a boy in England, Dawn had sex reassignment surgery in the United States, and created a stir in Charleston society by marrying a black man and having a baby.

In an attempt to meet more men, Harris explores the world of Drag Queens.

A collection of interviews with drag queens.

First person narratives combined with academic theory. See Volcano, The Drag King Book for a less academic approach.

Interviews and photos reveal the world of the drag king.

Contributors look at the world of drag from a variety of social and academic disciplines.

Howey was a teenager when she learned that her emotionally distant father liked to dress in women’s clothes, and she recounts the family’s struggles to adjust when he left and began to live as a woman.

Gilbert examines the ways in which inter-sexed individuals were viewed medically, erotically, legally, and literarily in Britain from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

An anthology of writings on legal, medical, psychological, religious, and social aspects of various treatments imposed upon intersexed individuals.

Roughgarden explores the gender and sexual diversity found in humans and nature, and examines the social barriers to acceptance of human diversity.

If gender is an artifice, is not all presentation of gender a masquerade or impersonation? Tyler provides a feminist and psychoanalytic look at gender presentation as performance.

Transgendered individuals talk about their personal experiences in this anthology.

The rather sad story of a largely unrequited relationship between Michael Dillon (formerly Laura), and Roberta Cowell (formerly Robert).

Garland, born a female, was a well-known cross-dresser and self-identified male who lived in San Francisco from the late 1880s until his death in the 1930s.

Diamond gathers the stories of a group of female-to-male transsexuals and self-defined gender-queers in this moving anthology.

Devor presents a sympathetic and easily understandable portrait of FTMs as they learn about themselves and their identity, through interviews she conducted.

A collection of academic papers on cross-dressing and transgenderism, with some interest for the general reader.

Photographer Allen documents the lives of a number of transgender people who have chosen varying degrees of physical alteration in their quests to live authentically.

Includes articles both theoretical and personal, exploring the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality, from a social sciences perspective.

Male-to-female transsexual Bornstein challenges the gender binary in this auto-biographical work.

Burke holds that gender is a social construct and argues for gender independence.

First-person accounts, set within a framework of gender studies and gender politics, look at what it’s like to be genderqueer.

Considers the sexual assignment of inter-sexed infants in a broader context.

A sympathetic look at the world of male cross-dressing and drag, accompanied by extensive photographs.

The diary of a French hermaphrodite who committed suicide after being forced to live as a man, and separated from the woman he loved.

An historical look at intersexuality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; drawing on both medical literature and personal accounts; with a chapter on the treatment of inter-sexed individuals today.

Looking at transsexuals, famous and not so famous, the doctors performing or withholding the surgeries, and the liberation movements of recent decades, Meyerowitz provides a good historical overview of transsexuality.

Charlotte survived the war on his lesbian aunt’s farm in East Prussia and went on to have an unusual life.

In this sad and funny memoir, Kilmer-Purcell recounts his multiple secret lives, including that of a drug and alcohol addicted transvestite.

Based on interviews with adult inter-sexed individuals, Preves shows that medical intervention often causes more problems than it prevents.

Professionals, parents, and inter-sexed individuals weigh in on current treatment modalities and theories.

A scholarly study of transsexuals and cross-dressers.

Griggs discusses her sex change from decision, through surgery, and beyond.

Kailey describes the complex physical, emotional, and practical issues involved in transitioning from female to male.

Scholinski, now living as a man, was institutionalized for three years in the 1980s in part for her "failure to identify as a sexual female."

Cross-dresser Anders gives advice about shopping, make-up, dating, and more.

Kessler examines the medical and social constructs of gender and asks whether inter-sexed individuals are well-served by either.

The cross-dressing performer tells it like it is—or was.

While focusing largely on eating disorders and body image obsession as it relates to the queer community, this book addresses concerns of inter-sexed and transgendered individuals.

Perhaps the first book to feature a trangender parent. For all ages.

Addressing a general audience, Allen explores a variety of reasons for male cross-dressing and discusses different types of cross-dressers.

Addams explores her life from the hills of Tennessee, to the first Gulf War, to the fulfillment of her dream of becoming a woman. An especially poignant story given the bias- based killing of Addams’ soldier boyfriend. (see: A Soldier’s Girl in the VIDEOS-DRAMA section).

Provides a historical and cultural overview of the role of the berdache, a person considered to be neither male nor female, but a third gender, or perhaps fourth gender in many Native American cultures.

Humorous and practical, this is an essential reference for the male cross-dresser.

D’On, a French diplomat was declared to be female by Louis XVI, but was discovered to be male upon his death.

Lesbian anthropologist Newton explores the inside world of the professional drag queen.

Andy Warhol associate Slatterly, aka Candy Darling reveals herself.

Transgender activist Bornstein provides a series of provoking questions that encourage each of us to look at where we fall on the gender spectrum.

An honest account of a wife’s evolving feelings about her cross-dressing husband.

Dr. Rudd addresses the concerns and questions of spouses and family of mostly heterosexual male cross-dressers.

A cultural study of Hijras, a group of voluntary eunuchs who serve a spiritual function within their communities.

Looks at medical, scientific, and legal issues in regard to sexual diversity around the world.

This collection of essays explores the impossibilities of "belonging" and passing as a sexual minority.

Novelist and psychotherapist Bloom writes sensitively about male-to-female transsexuals, heterosexual male cross-dressers, and intersexed individuals—and challenges readers to question their concepts of gender.

These essays by adult children deal honestly and compassionately with the issues involved in growing up in a GLBT family at a time when being GLBT was even less accepted than it is today.

Recommended by the Intersex Society of North America.

A sex-change, an interracial marriage, and a baby of mysterious origin are only a few of the features of this compelling story.

Photographs and essays chart the FTM experience.

Autobiography of the travel writer and early transsexual. see also Morris’ Conundrum.

Explores history, psychology, legal, social issues, and more, including a section on inter-sex individuals.

Gender activist Wilchins tries to unravel post-modern gender theory for the general reader.

Wilchins weaves together personal narrative and radical gender theory in a readable and challenging book.

Discusses the inadequacies of current law and legal theory as it relates to transsexuals.

Case histories, historical and scientific research, and interviews with activists inform Rudacille’s even-handed look at the issues surrounding transgenderism.

A brave memoir by Pratt that covers her coming to terms with being a lesbian in the South, and her life with her husband, trans-activist Leslie Feinberg.

Transwoman Griggs explores the pressures to conform to gender stereotypes that transgender individuals face.

James Miranda Barry, a girl (or possibly a hermaphrodite) was raised as a boy, and grew up to serve as a British Army physician.

The biography of transsexual tennis star and ophthalmologist, Richards.

Born intersexed, ordained as a Catholic Priest, Farrell-Roberts now identifies as a woman.

Looking at the lives of transgender pioneers and present-day gender radicals; biology, feminism, and social construct, Califia-Rice challenges our notions of gender.

Bi-lingual graphic memoir tells the story of a Cuban exile who first thinks he’s gay, then realizes he’s really transgendered.

Considering medical, scientific and social concepts of sex and gender, Fausto-Sterling convincingly argues that one’s physical characteristics don’t necessarily equate with one’s gender.

Fifteen selections from famous (Christine Jorgensen, Renee Richards) to less-well-known transgender individuals.

Boyd discusses the intricacies of her relationship with her pre-op transgender husband.

With a good dose of humor, Boylan recounts her forty years in the wrong body, and her transition to the woman she is today.

Questioning the diagnosis of gender identity disorder, this book posits what a gender-queer childhood could be like without the attached stigmas.

Ethno-historian Williams explains the history, customs, and social role of the berdache in Native American cultures.

The controversial standards of care which most transgender clients are subjected to in order to obtain the hormones and surgery of their choice.

Artistic photographs of gender variant bodies powerfully challenge the gender binary.

Married and a father, Tipton performed on the jazz circuit for nearly 50 years, only to be revealed to be a woman at death.

Former lesbian, feminist Valerio writes of his transition to maleness.

These essays explore the concepts of a third gender in various cultures within an historical context.

Family members of transgendered individuals talk about their feelings and experiences as they strive to accept the changes in their loved one. Includes a section on raising gender-queer children.

A transgender minister discusses the place of the transgender person within religious communities.

Essays by Feinberg and others on the complexity of gender expression.

The memoir of a male-to-female transsexual who continues to live with her wife of thirty years.

Cross-dressers are shown in daily life through photographs and interviews.

While written for healthcare professionals, this is an approachable book for a general audience.

A book for the mental health practitioner, presenting transgenderism as a normal variation of human expression.

Sharpe examines and challenges the body of law to which transgendered persons may find themselves subjected.

Through interviews and photographs, Andrei explores (and dispels) myths about transsexuals, transvestites, drag queens and gender-queer individuals.

Feinberg takes a look at transgender issues and persons throughout history.

Aimed at the professional community, this volume explores medical, psychological, and legal issues related to transgender and inter-sexed children and teens.

An academic exploration of the experience of "female-bodied" men informed by discourse analysis and feminist theory.

After volunteer teaching transgender and queer teens in a "last hope" school in Los Angeles, Beam finds herself getting further involved with some of them, ultimately unofficially foster-parenting Christina.

Basic information on transsexuality for managers, with an emphasis on managing an employee’s transition in the workplace.

Although a bit dated, Ramsey addresses many of the concerns and questions of the transgendered person and his or her family and friends.

From childhood questions and teen fears, to therapy, surgery and beyond, the authors cover the transsexual experience.

Garber examines the cultural significance of transvestites, particularl