Ebook: Outlaw marriages: the hidden histories of fifteen extraordinary same-sex couples

Walt Whitman & Peter Doyle, 1865-1892 : revolutionizing American poetry -- Martha Carey Thomas & Mamie Gwinn, 1878-1904 : opening graduate education to American women -- Ned Warren & John Marshall, 1884-1927 : building the collections of America's art museums -- Mary Rozet Smith & Jane Addams, 1891-1934 : breaking new ground in social reform and global peace -- Bessie Marbury & Elsie de Wolfe, 1892-1933 : founding the field of interior design -- J.C. Leyendecker & Charles Beach, 1901-1951 : taking the art of illustration to a new level -- Alice B. Toklas & Gertrude Stein, 1907-1946 : expanding the dimensions of American literature -- Janet Flanner & Solita Solano, 1919-1975 : pioneering a new style of journalism -- Greta Garbo & Mercedes de Acosta, 1931-1960 : making Hollywood the celebrity capital of the world -- Aaron Copland & Victor Kraft, 1932-1976 : inventing a distinctly American style of music -- Frank Merlo & Tennessee Williams, 1948-1963 : lifting American theater to new heights -- James Baldwin & Lucien Happersberger, 1949-1987 : attacking racism through literature -- Robert Rauschenberg & Jasper Johns, 1954-1962 : expanding the definition of art -- Ismail Merchant & James Ivory, 1961-2005 : turning literary works into sumptuous films -- Frances Clayton & Audre Lorde, 1968-1988 : raising a voice for women of color.;For more than a century before gay marriage became a hot-button political issue, same-sex unions flourished in America. Pairs of men and pairs of women joined together in committed unions, standing by each other "for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health" for periods of thirty or forty'sometimes as many as fifty'years. In short, they loved and supported each other every bit as much as any husband and wife. In Outlaw Marriages, cultural historian Rodger Streitmatter reveals how some of these unions didn't merely improve the quality of life for the two people involved but also enriched the American culture. Among the high-profile couples whose lives and loves are illuminated in the following pages are Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams and Mary Rozet Smith, literary icon Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, author James Baldwin and Lucien Happersberger, and artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.