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This article explores some of the less obvious and even surprising repercussions of September 11th. To do so, it draws on an online archive of more than 12,000 emails sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in response to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Just eleven days after September 11th, Congress created the fund for the express purpose of preventing victims' families from suing the airlines. After the act passed, the DOJ solicited public comments and posted them to its website, and from the start, the tone was combative. This essay focuses on two especially acrimonious issues: first, gay rights and the recognition of same-sex partnerships and, second, economic inequality and populist anti-elitism. Taken together, the emails showcase how September 11th precipitated fundamental and divisive debates on who deserved the nation's largesse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern sexual identification has been strongly influenced by media coverage. Beginning with the worldwide attention given to the transsexual surgery of Christine Jorgensen in 1952, the earliest stories relied on stereotypes of gender and often revealed hostility toward transvestites and homosexuals. Some readers saw these stories as opportunities for self-expression. Before US doctors developed the term 'transsexual,' mass media was the primary means for informing the public about surgically altered sex.

In this engaging social history, Beth Bailey and David Farber address the complex interplay of cultural contacts in wartime Hawaii. As thousands of military personnel and civilian war workers migrated [...]