How You Get Famous: Ten Years of Drag Madness in Brooklyn

Thanks in part to RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag has become mainstream, but before it was a household term, it was an underground culture that offered young, broke, queer boys and men a chance at money and fame by dressing up in outrageous outfits, dancing, and lip-synching to the songs of the day. Journalist Pasulka has put together a lively and intricate history of drag: the repressive 1940s and 1950s; the Drag Race competition series and RuPaul, who she says almost single-handedly made drag palatable to the masses; and the hip Brooklyn drag scene, which Pasulka asserts “serves as a microcosm of the art form.” She highlights drag queens Aja, Thorgy Thor, and Sasha Velour, all of whom appeared on Drag Race. There’s also 28-year-old Jason Daniels, who moved to New York City to be somebody but ended up a nobody; then Daniels discovered drag, became “Merrie Cherry,” and started hosting drag shows and pageants in the burgeoning Brooklyn drag scene. Pasulka follows the lives of these queens and others as they seek community and fame and compete on Drag Race and in drag pageants.