Ask and Tell by Steve Estes

Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was President Clinton's 1993 policy on gay and lesbian soldiers, continuing a long silence about the service and sacrifice of homosexual troops. Drawing on more than 50 interviews with gay and lesbian veterans, Steve Estes recovers these voices and chronicles gay and lesbian service in the U.S. military from World War II to the Iraq War. He traces the evolution of military policy over 65 years, shows how silence about sexuality shaped veterans' identities, and argues that these men and women strengthened the military in war and peace. He also places challenges to the ban within the wider movement for gay rights and gay liberation.