Reviews (8)

Condundrum by Jan Morris
This is an early work by a transsexual person but I did not enjoy it. Ms. Morris of course knows how to use the English language in an elegant manner but the book still failed for me. She treats women as nothing more than a shadow of men. Her book thinks it is perfectly acceptable for women to be sexually harrassed by men. She accepts sex role stereotypes pertaining to men and women. This book would not behelpful to modern day transgendered youth.

MAN ENOUGH TO BE A WOMAN...
This is an intriguing memoir, beautifully written by an author who has written numerous other non-fiction books. Jan Morris, formerly known as James Morris, was the correspondent for the London Times assigned to cover England's historic summit of Everest. The author actually accompanied the expedition to the Himalayas and did on site dispatches of the historic event. It would be as James Morris that she wouldwrite the wonderful book, "Coronation Everest", which chronicles the events leading to the historic summit of Everest by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on the eve of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The author would eventually become a celebrated writer of many travel books, journeying the world over. A very special book on many levels
Conundrum is a classic of the small but powerful field of transgender writing. What places this book at the top of the list are the fame of the author, the stellar prose, the non-sensational style of the telling, the humor, and the many layers and levels of love that carry Morris' passage from man to woman through to completion.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Case studies    6. Gender Studies    7. Great Britain    8. Historians    9. Literary    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Sex change    12. Transsexuals    13. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (19)

Lady Chablis is the real thing
After seeing Lady Chablis in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", I was looking forward to reading her book.She doesn't hide much in this book.She gives an honest account of how he became a she and even includes some recipes at the end of the book.I found the book very entertaining, although there is some language that isn't really for young people.

Nothing to Hide
"Hiding My Candy" was so interesting.The author candidly told us her story.Chablis allowed us into her life by sharing the humor and the pain.Non pretentious, down to earth, occasionally crass, but never boring.Definitely should be on your books to buy list.

I love the Lady Chablis
I loved this book. I thought it was very funny, very interesting but the best thing about it is the theme of perseverance and being who you are.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1957-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    7. Female impersonators    8. Gay Studies    9. Lady Chablis,    10. Specific Groups - Male Gay Studies    11. Transvestites    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General    14. Biography: general   

Reviews (1)

Very Real and Human Stories
I recently had the opportunity to read "'O Au No Keia: Voice's From Hawaii's Mahu and Transgender Community". As someone with no transgender feelings, it was a glimpse into a part of our community that I knew very little about. Its a very real book, written by the transgendered people themselves. Mr. Matzner interviewed a number of transgendered people on O'ahu, edited what they had wrote and then gave them a chance to review, correct and add to what they had said. So rather than being a book about transgender people, its really a book by transgendered people. Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Gender Studies    3. Hawaii    4. Human Sexuality    5. Oahu    6. Psychology    7. Sociology    8. Transsexuals   

Editorial Review

This fascinating memoir chronicles Deirdre McCloskey's transformation from Donald McCloskey, an economist at the University of Iowa and married father of two, into the woman he finally accepted he had always wanted to be. McCloskey had been dressing in women's clothes since he was 11, but after his daughter went to college in 1994, the 52-year-old man grew increasingly aware that he was more than "just a heterosexual crossdresser." As he moved toward the decision to become a transsexual, his wife reacted angrily, and his sister tried twice to have him declared insane. The passages detailing McCloskey's ordeal within the psychiatric and legal establishment are as gripping as a topnotch thriller. But the memoir's deeper interest lies in the author's reflections on the nature of gender and identity. Donald was a macho academic who dominated every discussion, viewing conversation as an exercise in one-upmanship. As he surgically altered his appearance and began to take estrogen on the road to "The Operation," he found himself relating to people in a more conventionally female way: listening to others, considering feelings. "The hormones are working, he thought at first. Or was it merely that the real person could now stand up?... Biology or core identity?" There are no final answers to such questions, but McCloskey poses them with sensitivity and insight. Read more

Reviews (42)

A Bizarre Biography
Am I the only reader disturbed by this memoir?First of all, I found the cover ghastly ...almost macabre.The book takes us from McCloskey's childhood, through his early exploration of cross dressing, his marriage, and ultimately, his tortured decision to become a transsexual.His wife abandons him; she cannot accept the fact that her husband is having surgery to become a woman.Neither Don nor Deirdre can understand her angst.
A Good Read, Illustrative
This is a great read.There aren't many trannsexual memoirs as honest and riveting as McCloskey's whirlwind tour, from married heterosexual to avowed transsexual.
The Economist is Transsexual
I was utterly fascinated by the author's transformation.At the start of the book we meet Donald McCloskey, a noted economist, as well as husband, father, and professor.We also learn that he is a compulsive cross dresser who walks around casually in women's clothing and heavy make up--at home.In his 50s, Donald had a major life epiphany and decided to become a transsexual.He has "the works"---breast implants, electrolysis, facial feminization, female voice surgery, and sex reassignment surgery.The results are evident in the photographs (before and after) in the center section of the book."Deidre" is a tall, blond, large-boned transsexual.Arms folded, legs crossed, "Deirdre" is not exactly my image of the womanly ideal.But judge for yourself.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Gender Studies    5. General    6. Specific Groups - General    7. Biography: general    8. Social Science / Gender Studies    9. Transsexuals   

Editorial Review

The poet May Sarton's reputation took a nosedive after her death in 1995 and the unflattering biography (by Margot Peters) that followed. The publication of her tender, revealing letters has managed to arrest this decline. Susan Sherman, who edited Sarton's Read more

Reviews (6)

Dear Juliette:Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley
In this book of letters, rich in description of life before, during, and after the war, Sarton's inner climate and varied landscape are revealed in fascinating detail.Readers find fertile ground for contemplation of who Sarton really was and why this friendship endured.*Dear Juliette* contains extraordinarily detailed notes researched by Susan Sherman who is knowledgeable about her subject from both personal and scholarly perspectives.Providing a palette of color and shading in emotional texture as well as factual background, Sherman's notes add tremendous depth to the story Sarton tells.The preface gives the reader insightful information about Sarton's complicated temperament and brings clarity and understanding to the canvas.This is Sarton at her best:with the transparency she so valued telling her readers about the most remarkable love of her life.....her dear Juliette.

Herculean Task
From Erika Pfander Director of the Chamber Theatre of Maine; Director and Producer of May Sarton's only plays: "The Music Box Bird" and "The Underground River" Dear Juliette: an evocation of the "ethos of a love affair"
Susan Sherman, editor of Dear Juliette, was bequeathed the challenge of bringing to life Sarton's relationship with Juliette Huxley.Too frail and in ill health to complete the process of selecting and editing hundreds ofletters and completing an introduction that would preface this story,Sarton asked Ms. Sherman to complete the work.As editor of previousvolumes of Sarton's unpublished poems and letters, including May SartonAmong the Usual Days and May Sarton: Selected Letters 1916-1954, Ms.Sherman was well qualified to bring this project to fruition, the resultsof which are this monumental achievement presenting the immortalization ofthe "ethos of a love affair." In a letter written toJuliette in 1937 Sarton comments: "How difficult it is to love well -to know when it is better to be silent, that even joy can strain the heartso frightfully - though in general everything that denies life seems falseto me." (63)* That comment sums up a great deal of Sarton's feelingsabout human relationships and would remain essentially the same throughouther life.She could not deny love, regardless of the pain, suffering, fearor misunderstanding that may develop. Sarton first met the Huxleys,Julian and Juliette, in 1936.This meeting would change her life forever. Ironically, she first shared a love affair with Julian Huxley, biologistand then Director of the London Zoo.It was through this affair thatSarton grew to realize her real passion was reserved for women, as sheexplained to Julian in a letter: ". . . there is a part of me perhapsthe writing part that needs a woman as a man needs a woman. ... Howevermuch one loves there are things one can't do against one's ownspirit." (70) It was the writing part of her, the poet, who fell inlove with Juliette.Juliette became Sarton's muse as poetry flowedfrom her pen."One of the great virtues [of poetry] is that power tosay an apparently unsayable thing quite simply." (44)Yet this love,as intense and powerful as it was, was not destined to be fullyreciprocated.Juliett's fear and misunderstanding eventually dictated atwenty-seven year separation which was only overcome upon the death ofJulian Huxley in the mid 1970s.Eventually May Sarton and Juliette Huxleywere reuinited, the circle of the ethos of their love affair was completed. The intervening years of silence had not destroyed the love Sarton heldfor Juliette, it had just tempered it.". . . the pain is no longeracute; joy is no longer as intense as one looks back." (295)But theletters and poetry that were written around this passionate friendshipremain and are a testament to its endurance.They underscore Sarton'spresceint statement from 1948: "I would race through the years to meetyou at the other end." (241) *page numbers are from the text of DearJulietteLenora P. Blouin Author: May Sarton: A BibliographyScarecrow Press, 1978 Forthcoming: May Sarton: A Revised BibliographyScarecrow Press, 2000 ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1896-    2. 1912-    3. 1912-1995    4. 20th century    5. Authors, American    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Correspondence    10. Huxley, Juliette,    11. Letters    12. Letters And Correspondence    13. Literary    14. Sarton, May - Prose & Criticism    15. Sarton, May,    16. Specific Groups - Lesbians    17. Women Authors    18. Huxley, Juliette    19. Sarton, May   

Editorial Review

Marjorie Garber (Read more

Reviews (2)

Life's more fun as a man than a nun
Celebrated in Spanish legends and folklore as the marvelous Lieutenant Nun, Catalina de Erauso was born to a prosperous Basque family in 1585 and sent to a convent at age 4. Destined to become a nun, there she remained until age 15. Days before she was to take her final vows, she escaped, taking only needle, thread, scissors and a few coins. A Different Conquistador
Catalina de Erauso grew up in a Basque convent, but spent most of her days as a soldier in the Spanish army in the mid-1600s.This brief autobiography is not a typical tale of military exploits.Althoughbrawling constitutes much of the action, this is the story of a femaletransvestite.De Erauso dressed as a man to escape from her convent in1599.Keeping up the disguise for reasons that included an attraction to"pretty faces," she traveled to the Americas in 1603 and foughtin the conquest of Chile.When finally forced to reveal her true sex, deErauso attained brief celebrity in the Baroque world.In 1624, the popegranted her permission to continue her life garbed in male attire.Aforword and an excellent introduction by the translators places thisfascinating story in historical context. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Erauso, Catalina de,    5. Gay Studies    6. Latin America    7. Spain    8. Spain And Portugal - History    9. Women    10. b. ca. 1592    11. Erauso, Catalina de   

Reviews (20)

Devastating, beautiful and true
'Borrowed Time' is the most unpretentious, cliche free account of love I've read. So much of it's power lies in what Paul does not say about his lover: describing him most often as his most precious 'friend' he asks the reader to understand, to implicitly know the strength of his passion. The simple assumption that readers across cities, countries, cultures will understand his emotions is what gives the story so much beauty. I fell in love with both Paul and Roger, or more specifically, the strength of what they had together.
One of the best books ever.
I don't know how this book didn't win every award the publishing world has to offer.Quite simply, this one volume is the most emotionally devastating work I've ever read.I've read about hate crimes, political assassination and Nazi persecution, but none touch this.Several times I had to set the book down because I was no longer able to read through great, racking sobs and eyes nearly swollen shut.I grieved.
If you want to know what love is
I listened to Paul Monette read from his memoir on a recorded book; and the experience was unforgettable, profound, wholly human, and perhaps the best meditation on love I've ever read.Without going into the details of the 1980's AIDS "scene," which this book also authentically and accurately portrays, this "love story" depicts and explored and revealed so tenderly and so poetically that it should be placed on all the bookstores in the relatinship section of the major chains--and recommended for straight and gay couples. And while the booksellers are at it, they should remainder all the John Gray, Dr. Phil and every other "author" who address relationships in a vapid, moronic, demeaning way.This book may be the best argument for "gay marriage," although I hesitate in recommending this in fear that such a beautiful relationship as portrayed in this work could be subsumed under such a shaky institution. It would also be a d_mn good book for heterosexual, especially "conservative Christian" couples, men and women to read together: Not necessarily to change minds about the law, but at least to change misconceived perceptions about their fellow humans.And a note to women, if you would like your guy to be a better "listener" and a better "lover," read this book--not those goofball "women's magazines."This book might also make some right-wing ideologues re-think some of their kneeejerk definitions of "values" and realize that perhaps it is THEIR values that need some looking into.N.B.I am not gay.I am a straight male. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. AIDS & HIV    2. AIDS (Disease)    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction    6. Health    7. Medical    8. Medical - General    9. Monette, Paul    10. Patients    11. Specific Groups - Male Gay Studies    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (2)

A delight ...
This one's been sitting on my shelf for two years. Who needs to read a book about no one? No one. So I forgot about it until today, while weeding my unruly book collection. What a delight! Avoiding most cliches about life-writing and full of hard-won honesty, this collection of thematic essays from one ordinary-but-not life abounds with truth and sensitivity. Better than most biographies and most memoirs, the unflinching revelations by this one-out-of-many individual won my respect and my heart. Spring the $.38 and try this one. You won't be disappointed.

Sit-down comedy and much, much more
Daniel Harris is a clear thinker, a hilarious raconteur, a Ph. D. dropout (and therefore consigned to "the Gulag of the intelligentsia"), a gay man in his forties,a cultural critic, a student of sex and semiotics, literature and media and all things pop. He's his own best source of jokes and - in his latest effort - a thoroughly engagingand an intensely thoughtful autobiographer.The title, the subtitle, the flyleaf and the introduction("Beginning") posture a disdain for the craft of memoir.Don't you believe it. Harris is great at the art of remembering, of retelling rivetingly well,and - best of all -of making some sense of his life up 'til now.His story as he tells it is by turns sad and serious, wonderfully sensitive, harsh (toward himself)in places and sweetly sympathetic in others. It's also hilarious. It's likely that you'll laugh uncontrollably in places. I tried to read this while eating and nearly choked on my food.Read more

Subjects:  1. Gay Studies    2. Gender Studies    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Social Science    5. Sociology    6. Biography/Memoir    7. Essays   

Reviews (1)

Encyclopedia of the lavender screen
This engaging encyclopedia contains over 160 entries and includes notable actors, actresses, screenwriters, directors, comedians and more (both living and dead), as well as specialized topics. Entries on individuals cover a page or two while broader subjects (like "American Television - Dramas and "British Television") are much lengthier. Contributors include professors, scholars, writers and critics in the field. For the most part, entries are thorough, covering a person's career and accomplishments as well as illuminating their private life and what part, if any, their sexuality had on their professional lives. Some subjects are more revealing than others. For example, entries on Agnes Moorehead and Cary Grant, two examples of famous "were they or were they not?," don't really include any new information, aside from gossip, and the basis for their inclusion is questionable. On the other hand, recently deceased contemporary subjects, who never publicly came out, like Roddy McDowell, James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, are included. Famous bi-sexuals (like Tallulah Bankhead, Errol Flynn, Brad David and Margaret Cho) are included. A notable highlight of the book is the inclusion of contemporary actors, like Dan Butler, Alan Cumming and Lily Tomlin. There are so notable omissions (like Leslie Jordan, Sara Gilbert and David Hyde Pierce), but the editor states that the book is not meant to be comprehensive and the lack of information on certain individuals is often the reason for their absence. Hopefully, this is a reference work that will be revised in years to come. It is a helpful and informative source. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Cinema/Film: Book    3. Dictionaries    4. Film & Video - History & Criticism    5. Film & Video - Reference    6. Film Criticism    7. Gay Studies    8. Gays    9. Gays in the performing arts    10. Gender Studies    11. Performing Arts    12. Popular Culture - General    13. Television (Performing Arts)    14. Gay & Lesbian studies    15. Social Science / Gay Studies   

Reviews (4)

Where Does a Mother Go?
Well, with the kind of judgmental attitude Barbara Johnson has toward others different from herself, she's going down to the fiery place.And fast.For the record, Christian = Acceptance, not Christian = Intolerance.

Mixed feelings
The first time I read this book, I was more conservative than I am today and I knew nothing about this alternate lifestyle or the people who live it. I found this book stunning. I laughed, cried, and was swept into Barbara's pain. Help in the Dark
Barbara's willingness to share her experiences with others has helped my wife and I through the dark years of three teens. A healthy way to look at life's troubles and go on - not "just survive" but go on into the fullness and humor that life also brings. Generally I highly recommend it to all, but I especially recommend it to those presently on their own dark road. Who was it that said "We read to know we are not alone?" Thanks Barbara for letting us know that we are not alone. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Barbara E.)    2. Biography    3. Christianity - Christian Life - Family Relationships    4. Christianity - Christian Life - General    5. Christianity - Christian Life - Parenting    6. Family relationships    7. Gay men    8. Housewives    9. Johnson, Barbara    10. Mothers    11. Parenting - Motherhood    12. Religion    13. Religion - Marriage & Family    14. United States    15. Coping with personal problems    16. Personal Christian testimony & popular inspirational works    17. Religion / Christian Life   

Subjects:  1. (Victoria),    2. 1894-1972    3. 20th century    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Correspondence    7. Gay Studies    8. General    9. Letters    10. Literary Collections    11. Literature: Classics    12. Novelists, English    13. Sackville-West, V    14. Trefusis, Violet Keppel,    15. Literary Collections / Letters    16. Trefusis, Violet Keppel   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. California    3. Education    4. Gay Studies    5. Gender Studies    6. Human Sexuality    7. Life Stages - Teenagers    8. Los Angeles    9. Popular Culture - General    10. Social Science    11. Social conditions    12. Sociology    13. Transsexual youth    14. Social Science / Gender Studies   

Reviews (6)

A Landmark Collection
"The Man I Might Become" is a landmark collection that shows a welcome maturation of the gay community - an acknowledgement that to understand and accept the self, we must understand and forgive others.And for many gay men, there is no figure more "other" than one's own father.Yet, as the title suggests, coming to terms with one's father is also a way to truly see oneself.The best essays in the book (notably those of Joseph Hansen and Bernard Cooper) are superbly written evocations of the knot of father-son love, scary and deep with feeling.

Add this to your library
I'm not a fan of compilations since they tend to be uneven and often predictable but this one is an exception to the rule. It is by turns affirming and profoundly sad. The themes of conflict and acceptance, shame and forgiveness have rarely been touched upon in such a sensitive way. I found it terribly affecting and emotionally honest without it being sentimental. The sort of confessional, self-revelatory writing sometimes runs the risk of sounding preachy or self-rightous; this book succeeds precisely because it does neither. I'd recommend it to parents, gay or straight, as well as to their children.

Verycool
This book book is great. Over the holidays I had a chance to read it (some of it twice). I have to say i didn't expect it to be such a captivating read.As it turned out it was the kind of thing where youcant just read one story - you have to get the next one in and then the next -staying up way past bedtime!!It was fun - in places dark, in other very funny.I am always amazed at how many different points of view there are on the topic of parents. It is amazing what some parents are capable of.It was fascinating to see how people had come to terms with their lot in life and managed to rise above, forgive, and so on.I also think it is a treasure in the sense that things are changing quickly and that in 20 years, folks might write quite differently. A must for every library.Enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Family relationships    4. Fathers and sons    5. Gay    6. Gay Studies    7. Gay men    8. Gay men's writings, American    9. Men's Studies - Masculinity    10. Nonfiction    11. Personal Memoirs    12. UnitedStates    13. United States   

Reviews (3)

Hilarious journey on the ocean
This is a great, un-put downable read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Nothing chicken about this author
I have read some of Gillian Kendall's travel stories and she has an eye for the telling detail. Although this book is more memoir than travel commentary, she manages to include enough background to set the scene for this genuinely funny page turner. Kendall finds herself signed up to teach English as a Second Language to an all-male crew of Chinese seamen, with her only non-crew companion an ex-jock from Texas on board as a technical adviser. The book recounts her voyage not only from China to the U.S. but from initial apprehension and self doubt to the sure knowledge that she has not only taught a good number of her pupils to make themselves understood in English, she has also become something of a hero to them -- and not only because of her teaching. I laughed out loud more than once and admired her apparent conquest of an improbably dificult task. Inventive teaching methods, respect for each other's culture (except perhaps for chicken feet on the menu or the reported promiscuity of American women) and genuine curiosity and humanity made this a journey Ifelt must have been pivotal to both crewnmen and author. There is a subplot of Kendall's indecision about her love life back in Texas, and actually, her love life in general. If I have a criticism, it is that the reader never finds out how that aspect all worked out. But that's fodder for another book from this talented author. I can't wait.

A Slice of Life on a Chinese Working Boat
"Mr. Dings Chicken Feet" is a well paced can't put down memoir by Gillian Kendall.If you have ever wondered what it would be like to sail as part of the crew of a working boat, this will satisfy your curiousity.The author has a marvelous sensitivity and excitement about world wide cultures (she also taught in Egypt) and she manages to take us with her to Shanghai and back to Texas.She uses gentle irony to tease us along and includes an ongoing running joke that we never find the punchline for unless we read the book through.I am still missing the characters and writing although it has been more than a week since I finished reading it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Asia - Far East    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. China    5. Chinese speakers    6. English language    7. Intercultural communication    8. Lesbian Studies    9. Personal Memoirs    10. Shanghai    11. Study and teaching    12. Travel    13. Biography: general    14. East Asia, Far East    15. Travel / Asia / Far East    16. Travel writing   

Editorial Review

Over the course of the past decade transgender politics have become the cutting edge of sexual liberation. While the sexual and political freedom of homosexuals has yet to be fully secured, questions of who is sleeping with whompale in the face of the battle by transgender activists to dismantle theidea of what it means to be a man or a woman. Riki Anne Wilchins's Read more

Reviews (7)

a disapointment
I read this book hoping to be empowered by a transgender rights leader. Rikki Wilchins is the founder and president of Gender pac.The book was a total disapointment. Wilchin's bio was not moving at all. The book was filled with graphic sex talk about Wilchin's artifical vagina. She talks about workshops where biological women touch her genitals. The book is vulgar and could make more people have hatred for the transgenderd. A total waste of time.

There is a lot of everyone in that book!
Knowing Riki is a blessing.Riki signed my book and said at the time of doing so there was a lot of me in there.As an intersexed person that had just begun to read the book I had my reservations however we both see gender issues in a similiar fashion, this I already knew.The further I got into the book the more I begun to understand that Riki truly understands what people are all about.While her book is part autobiography andpart gender/fem theory it allows those with an open mind to share a fresh perspective of just how all theis 'gender stuff' impacts Everyone!Truly a wonderful book.

A Transgender Feminst, at Long Last
Lots of MTW's/transwomen's claims to be feminist books are merely womanist and don't reveal a serious engagement of feminist gender studies. Riki Anne Wilchins is providing a transgender feminist political analysis of a good many things, including gender. The only objection I have to the text is the sexual self-disclosures that seem to violate the true integrity of the book. Where the queer sexual celebration of love works splendidly in Minnie Bruce Pratt's, "S/he," it feels like advertisement in Wilchins'.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1952-    2. Biography    3. Gender Studies    4. General    5. Lesbians    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Transsexuals    9. United States    10. Wilchins, Riki Anne,    11. Women    12. Women's Studies - General   

Subjects:  1. 1883-1956    2. 20th century    3. Art    4. Avant garde (Aesthetics)    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Feminism and art    7. France    8. General    9. History    10. Individual Artist    11. Laurencin, Marie,    12. Lesbian artists    13. Psychology    14. Biography: general    15. History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -    16. Individual artists    17. Laurencin, Marie   

Editorial Review

When Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn brought together a group of North Carolina women mourning their sons' deaths of AIDS, they little realized that they would become political activists, and would found an organization to oppose the 1996 reelection of Jesse Helms to congress. Angry talk started to flow, someone wrote a check, and Clarke ran to get a clean pickle jar from the kitchen for donations: "We didn't really know what we were doing. We were just driven by primal emotions." Although Mothers Against Jesse in Congress failed to convince Jesse Helms to tone down his anti-gay rhetoric or alter his stance on funding for AIDS research, Patsy and Eloise did get to present their case to the 1996 Democratic convention, appear in Read more

Reviews (8)

A touching story that will move you to tears.. repeatedly
I first picked up this book at my university's library as a source for an essay, and I never realized how deeply the story of Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn would affect me so deeply. Their story is so moving and personal, almost every chapter made me get out the box of tissues. I've read many books, and none of them have left me with the urge to seek out the authors and give them a tearful hug and a from-the-heart thank you. This book has broken that trend.

Love Conquers All
Patsy Clark and Eloise Vaughn would probably be the first persons to say that they are not professional writers; yet theirs is a story that touches our hearts. After the deaths of both their sons from AIDS, they took on Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina in an effort to upseat him. We all know they did not succeed in their efforts; nevertheless, they are winners of the highest sort. Althought the two women had led very different lives-- one was a Democrat, the other a Republican, they found they had much in common. In the words of Patsy Clark after these women's first meeting: "Both of our sons were named Mark--and that seemed huge to us. . . Both of us had led very mainstream, privileged lives. . . Each of us were widowed before our sons died, so each of us had to deal with that trauma alone. Neither of us had known that our sons were gay. . ." Another thing that they had in common was unconditional love for their sons and a consuming belief that no one, including the mighty Helms, would treat their sons as second class citizens because they were gay. Misplaced Energy?
Although one's heart breaks for the grief these two mothers have had to endure, it seemed to me that their vision had become somewhat clouded, and their energies cry out to be used in more producive ways. By all accounts, federal spending on AIDS is far above the levels spent on several other diseases which kill many more people, and which....in the case of cancer....the causes are not even very well-known. Surely, it is only humane to assist in the care and research of these other diseases in a more equal parity to HIV/AIDS. Even Sen. Helms was misrepresented, since Mrs. Clark claims he actually said "AIDS sufferes deserve what they get"...and that is a lie. He never said such a thing...nor has anyone else who objects to the over-funding of AIDS efforts vs the funding of other diseases. He merely pointed out that what causes a person to become infected with HIV/AIDS is very well-known...exactly as we know why smokers get lung and throat cancer. So...while these two grieving mothers (and their sons who suffered) engender much-deserved sympathy, one can only wish their considerable energy could be focused more on prevention efforts, and less on sill more increased...and unfair...federal funding. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Case studies    4. General    5. Homophobia    6. Motherhood    7. Parents of AIDS patients    8. Parents of gays    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Practical Politics    11. Social Policy    12. United States    13. Clarke, Patsy    14. Helms, Jesse    15. Political activity    16. Vaughn, Eloise    17. Views on AIDS (Disease)    18. Views on gay men   

Editorial Review

Roger Edmonson details the life of one of the most famous and beloved American gay porn stars. In 1971, gay model and actor Cal Culver went from being relatively unknown to superstardom when he appeared in the acclaimed high-brow porn movie Read more

Reviews (10)

A Great Read.
Cal Cluver, a/k/a Casey Donovan was a pioneer.He, along with Wakefield Poole, Joe Gage, Al Parker, and the like, created the the modern gay male icon.This is the story of Donovan, his triumps, his cutting edge persona, and his tragic end.Read this book.

Not very believable
Little said about the supposed biography. I am sure if Casey Donovan was alive he would be suing for defamation. Too many anonymous names lots of hearsay. The pics of Casey are good but thats about it. Don't bother

Like a so-so date:great package, but where's the depth?
Confession:I started reading this book wanting to like it.Really.After all the inaccuracies that have been written and said about gay menand their (supposedly? occasionally?) promiscuous sexuality (which depends,I suppose, on who's doing the talking; to use a literary analogy, you say"bookworm", I say "well-read"), I was looking forwardto an in-depth look at the development, creation and iconization of a gayporn star.What would lead an otherwise "normal" young man, inthe era of the overwhelming closet, to enter, and ultimately maintain acareer, in this industry?Long before it was considered somewhatfashionable to have a little bit of scandal in your past, long before thedays of straight bodybuilders making a few quick bucks, most hardcore gayfilm performers were doing it out of desperation for the money, to avoidhomelessness, or under some form of duress (e.g. runaway teens, drug users,etc.).Then along comes this boy next door, who seems to want nothing butto be a performer, and there he is, making adult films?What created thisman?What created our urge to watch him, honor him, and make him an iconof liberated gay sexuality?How did all these factors come together, andultimately help create the mega-billion dollar industry that is gay porntoday?Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Donovan, Casey    4. Erotic films    5. Gay Studies    6. Gay actors    7. Gay/Lesbian Nonfiction    8. General    9. Motion picture actors and actr    10. Motion picture actors and actresses    11. Social Science    12. Specific Groups - Male Gay Studies    13. United States    14. Biography: film, television & music    15. Films, cinema    16. Gay & Lesbian studies    17. Social Science / Gay Studies   

Reviews (19)

In Memoriam ofL'Amazone, Natalie Clifford Barney
Natalie Clifford Barney was wild at heart. She loved life and women rather than men. We'll never know why she preferred being a lesbian but she created one of the most memorable and historic scenes in her Paris salons. While Stein was more cerebral, Barney was more fun and light at heart. She was still complicated with a love life that includes Romaine Brooks and Rene Vivian. Anyway this book is quite a departure for me, I read crime books so I'm looking forward to reading this book in depth. I have only just got it and I'm impressed with it's high quality. Of course since I'm still reading it, I still find Natalie's life both in turmoil and complicated by having too many intimate relationships with women. She was definitely one of a kind lady of her time. She has intimate relationships with women because that's her nature as she believes and that's fine. But Natalie is too much for one partner, I haven't even gotten to Romaine Brooks, the love of her life. Of course, Natalie suffers heartache and loss much more than most people are willing to imagine. Men even admired and desired her despite her obvious taste. She was surely cerebral. She never apologized for her nature and she was neither displaying it like it is today. Natalie was classy with her style. She was feminine without any pretense of wanting to dress like a man or be one. She was definitely a woman who loved other women long before it became fashionable and sometimes a joke. I don't what she would think of female celebrities today etc. I know she would probably be either critical or praise them but I don't know. Natalie was a tough person with higher credentials than most people. She wasn't about to welcome just anybody whether they were gay or straight into her salons. They had to be cerebral and an artist and somebody who could change the world for the better. After finishing this wonderful biography, Natalie lived a fascinating life that nobody with any creativity could have written. Of course, it wasn't always happy. Her one true love, Romaine Brooks, distanced herself from Natalie at the end of their lives. Natalie went to the grave with a picture of Romaine. She shares her grave with her sister Laura. Despite all her lovers, Natalie had many of them but all female, it was Romaine that she wanted most of all. Of course, she had Lily Graumont and others but Natalie lived a life that many of us regardless of our sexual orientation could not have imagined. I would love to see Vanessa Redgrave play the older Natalie and one of her daughters, Joely or Natasha Richa