This is a short history book about transgender, intersex, non-binary, and other not cisgender people throughout history. Each brief biography is accompanied by an illustration of the subject. As the introduction mentions, there is often a misconception that being trans is a new thing, but it definitely is not.
I loved this book. History can be intimidating to read about, but this is an extremely accessible sampler with just a small amount of information on each person that you can use to research more if you want to learn about their life or time period in more detail. And it was really nice that there were illustrations with each page.
I am so grateful I got to read this book, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I'd recommend this one to people who want to venture into learning more about gender history but are overwhelmed by a more traditional textbook or theory book.

I love this idea. Most of the book I really liked, because it's fun to see how there have literally ALWAYS been trans people, way before people knew that word. My only critiques are that the wording in some places are a bit weird. For example it could say "they didn't find out until his death that he was female". Like, if HE is a trans man then HE is not female. I know what the author is saying, I just feel like it could be better in places. There was also a character who was described as identifying as female, but the pronouns they/them were used instead of she/her. Also, there is a lot of focus on describing genitals for some of these people. I understand that especially for some of the people from really long ago, the records might not show much more than like medical records or such, but I still think there's a bit too much focus on it. If there isn't much to say about a person, then maybe instead write more about another person instead.
Sidenote: I don't know if it was the formatting or something but the chapter on Marsha P. Johnson was unreadable. It simply didn't make sense it was so messy.

A beautiful look into the history of transgender and non binary people,

I learned so much from start to finish that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned.
The illustrations were also very well done.
It was very informative to learn about these transgender icons and I am so happy that I was able to read it. I will also definitely be reading more from this author in the future.

I thought this book was quite interesting. I enjoyed the introduction of the fact that transexual and intersex people lived well before the "recent" hatred and phobia of the 20th century started (and continues, surprisingly). I enjoyed the illustrations after each introduction. Reading about the inequality and maltreatment of every single one of the people in this book was hard to stomach. I particularly loved reading about Alan L. Hart who received a masters in public health in 1948.

* Many thanks to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If there's one overarching theme of Philippa Punchard's "Gender Pioneers: A Celebration of Transgender, Non-Binary and Intersex Icons" it's that what many consider to be a contemporary "trend" or liberal invention has, in fact, been with us throughout the centuries.

In other words, being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex is very real and "Gender Pioneers" does an excellent job of presenting the simple, straightforward (but far too brief) biographies of icons from throughout the ages. Some of these icons will be familiar while others will be more of a revelation of shorts.

The book is pleasingly illustrated to bring to life these icons and Punchard does a wonderful job of getting to the heart of their stories. "Gender Pioneers" is, in fact, a fairly straightforward book. Punchard largely presents the material in a matter-of-fact manner and "Gender Pioneers" largely reads like the relatively brief, mostly 1-2 pages, bios for a wide variety of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons from past and present.

Punchard also includes near book's end a sort of cultural history and celebration of transgender, non-binary and intersex icons and this alone is worthy of review, research, and further discussion. I found this informative as it provides discussion points for those who wish to call being transgender, non-binary and/or intersex some sort of liberal invention.

Punchard basically says "Nope, it's not" and then provides the proof.

"Gender Pioneers" is a relatively quick, easy read and is educational, engaging, and an important read for those who wish to understand and celebrate the transgender, non-binary and intersex icons of past, present, and most definitely the future.

This book was very informative and included information about lots of trans people who I had never heard of. I appreciate the inclusion of people from many different time periods, because we don't often hear of trans people existing before the 20th century. I also appreciate how respectful the author was of names and pronouns, considering that most of the people covered did not have the vocabulary and understanding of gender terms. It can be difficult to respect modern understandings of gender and pronouns while writing about older understandings, and I think that was done well. Also, I loved the varied art styles that were used.