Milk: A Pictorial History of Harvey Milk. Int. Dustin Lance Black; Forewrd. Armistead Maupin. 2009. 144p. Newmarket Press, $19.95. (978-1-55704-828-8). Gr. 10-12.

In 1977, when Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he was the first openly gay man to be voted into a major public office in the United States. One year later he was shot by a disgruntled man who had resigned from the Board and then killed both Milk and Mayor George Moscone. In the past thirty years, Milk has become a hero to those who believe in human rights for the glbt community. This book is a story of how he changed history through his actions and legacy with an introduction about how his life transformed Black’s life when, while he was growing up in a homophobic Mormon household in San Antonio, heard a recording of Milk’s speech giving hope to young glbtq people. Part I, “The History,” provides a history about Milk’s life, 90 photographs ,and recollections from Milk’s activist friends in his Castro Street neighborhood about his work. Part II chronicles “The Making of the Movie,” released in 2008, written by Black, directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Sean Penn. Peter Travers, in Rolling Stone, said about the movie: “A total triumph! Brimming with humor, heart, sexual heat, political provocation, and a crying need to stir things up. If there’s a better movie around this year, with more bristling purpose, I sure haven’t seen it. An American classic.” An inspiration to people discouraged by the passing of Proposition 8 in California and the fight about the country to repeal legislative action giving glbt people equal rights. —Nel Ward