Product Description
A serial killer is targeting gay men, preying on them in popular bars and parks. Assigned to the case, rookie cop Pat St. James feels all too close to the victims. He's gay and firmly in the closet at work. The fact that he's sent undercover as a gay man is a stroke of irony.Pat and his fellow cop, Hank, are hanging out in bars, trying to get a lead on the killer. At the same time, Pat's looking for Mr. Right - juggling three men, hoping he'll find the perfect match for himself. He picked up Bill at a bar, Dean's a longtime friend . and in yet another ironic twist, his partner, Hank, is also gay and on the list of possible beaus.As the killer continues to rampage, strangling and raping his victims, Pat has to focus on his work and hope that his personal life survives the stress. But when his hopes and dreams for happiness overlap with the investigation, Pat may be headed for big trouble. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Pat St. James achieves success.
Pat St. James is the rookie fresh on the field.He is trying to hide that he is gay.He gets put on the case of the gay serial killer and works his magic to find the killer.There are some spots that gets a little wordy however the book as a whole was very good.I have found there is a second book so can not wait to read it.This comes recommended as a good summer book.

A Waste of Time
This book is so bad, I don't know where to begin.The writing is, simply put, dreadful. The dialogue is stilted, the characters are sterotypes, and the plot is hackneyed, not to mention, not at all plausible.I've never written a review for Amazon, but this book was so bad that I had to warn others away.Oh, by the way, the sex scenes are plentiful, though passionless and tepid.

Not brilliantly written, but my favorite of the Simpson books I've read
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 6/10

PROS:
- The plot is better in this book than in either of the Simpson books I've read before, Condor One and Def Con One. I guess I'd classify this as a mystery, although the identity of the murderer is revealed a lot sooner than the next-to-last chapter. But even after they figure out who the murderer is, the details of finding the guy and catching him are pretty exciting.
- One scene in particular is beautiful and heart-gushingly romantic. Almost, but not quite, over-the-top. And it's not just a sex scene: the narrator goes on a date where he is given the royal treatment from front door to restaurant to bedroom, and all I can say is, I want one.
- There's a lot of interesting, authentic-sounding police jargon thrown in, especially in the dialogue. (I assume that all of it IS authentic, since according to the short bio at the end of the book, Simpson was a police officer at one time.) I must admit, though, that I don't remember when the narrator and his partner changed from being "Adam 5" to "Adam 25." Maybe that's an editing error, but probably there's an explanation for it that I missed.

CONS:
- Some of the dialogue is a little difficult to wade through. At times it's stilted and wooden-sounding. For example, after performing oral sex on the narrator, one character says, "Thank you, Pat, I've wanted to do that since I first met you. I hope you enjoyed it." I don't find the CONTENT of that unbelievable, but the way it's stated so politely is a bit odd to me. There are also times when several lines of dialogue will occur and we don't find out who said them until the end of that paragraph.
- Lots of unnecessary telling, which is characteristic of Simpson's writing. (He'll write "I was nervous," for example, after the narrator has already explained in detail a situation in which he was so uncomfortable that "I felt sick to my stomach." You SHOWED me that you were nervous; you don't have to tell me.)
- The narrator bottoms for the first time early on in the book, but not with the guy he ends up with at the end. I was pretty disappointed that he gave up what he calls his "prize," which he acknowledges should be given to "someone you cared about," to some random guy instead of the one who ends up sweeping him off his feet.

Overall comments: Simpson's just an okay WRITER, but he's a pretty good STORYTELLER. The plot of this book is really decent, as is the romantic element, late-blooming and sparse though it may be. If you're a brilliant writer yourself, you'll probably find this book subpar, but if you're looking for a reasonably good action storyline, this one fits the bill.

Hot and tight.
I am a fan of the gay detective genre and Simpson presents us with a nice version; a very young cop who works in the closet but uses his instincts and his sexual identity to help solve a case. Simpson brings in some timely aspects to the piece and things just keep moving. It reads fast but is very engaging; I needed to keep reading. As an older person, I enjoyed reading the gay aspects of this from a writer of my generation but about characters of our children's generation. The issues of homophobia, prejudice and hate are still an issue even after so many decades of advancements. The sex is not gratuitous but is presented very naturally. I am ordering some of his other books.

J. Simpson
Enjoyable mystery story with great sex scenes.

Sale went smoothly and all was as advertized.Thank you. ... Read more

Product Description
Father John J. McNeill thoughtfully explains how both tradition and Scripture support the love between people of the same sex and shows that a positive gay identity is compatible with Christian faith. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

TO BAD CHRISTIANS ARE NOT WILLING TO EDUCATE THEMSELVES
I am responding mostly to Craig T Coffey.Someday you will be faced with someone you love, who is born a homosexual and YOU WILL realize your sexuality is given to you at birth (yours apparently heterosexual.TELLING PEOPLE THEY MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN THEMSELVES, THE WAY THEY WERE BORN AND GOD IS A TRUE SIN IN ITSELF.If you had been born homosexual yourself you may actually realize the daily struggle because of uneducated people such as yourself proclaiming your view of the God I know and love.God will be their judge and yours.

False Teaching Promotes Bondage
Sadly, this book takes Scripture completely out of context and simply serves as a co-dependent source for those wanting to validate the sin of homosexuality.McNeil is a notable false teacher in the evangelical community.Like other pro-homosexual "researchers", McNeil cannot escape the FACT of what the Bible states about the sin.He did hear from a spirit ... it just wasn't the Holy Spirit.McNeil does nothing to "liberate" homosexuals.His works only contribute to keeping them in spiritual bondage.

Very important book
I got this book for my birthday one year after finding it on the shelf at a bookstore. Being a part of the minority group of gay Christians, I was intrigued. The "target audience" for the book is for homosexuals and their loved ones, but it really could be read by anyone, and I think it should be. McNeill offers theology on living in fear, guilt, shame, anger, and living with pathological faith and the importance of maturing spiritually. I think any Christian can relate to any (if not all) of these topics, and not just struggling gay Christians. It's the kind of book that you may want to read with a pencil or pen in your hand so you can underline parts that are important to you. (That's what I did.) This is a caring, humble, and comforting book, and one that I highly recommend and cherish.

Pro Gay, Pro Christian!!!
I am a gay ordained minister of the gospel, and this book helped me accept my homosexuality.It is suberbly written and researched.A must for anyone coming out, and a definite must for any minsiter workign with thegay community.God bless the author.

Pro Gay, Pro Christian!!!
I am a gay ordained minister of the gospel, and this book helped me accept my homosexuality.It is suberbly written and researched.A must for anyone coming out, and a definite must for any minsiter workign with thegay community.God bless the author. ... Read more

Product Description
Life is good these days for rookie cops and best friends Patrick St. James and Hank Capstone. They've closed the books on two high-profile serial murder cases and survived unscathed. Now they learn that they've earned the admiration of their peers and superiors and that they've both been promoted to detective third-class. Things are good on the homefront too--both men have loving partners who worry about them but support them wholeheartedly. Could things get any better? How about a double wedding on Christmas Eve?

A story in the Murder Most Gay series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Poor in comparison of the other books in the series
I was so looking forward to this third book in the series.However after reading it the story felt more like the author was forced to write this book and he did it in a hurry.There is no in depth story plot and it was like hey lets marry the characters and then not revisit them.I love these characters but this book felt like a slap in the face of the readings and fans.

Disappointed...
I really enjoyed this author's first books in this series. This book was a real disappointment. The story was poor and the plot lacking. No mystery, no police procedures, no police story whatsoever. This was a pure romance novel and a pretty sappy one at that. ... Read more

Product Description
John Boswell's highly acclaimed study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West challenges received opinion and our own preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members, among whom were priests, bishops and even canonized saints. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted (legal, literary, theological, artistic, and scientific) make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history. The product of ten years of research and analysis of records in a dozen languages, this book opens up a new area of historical inquiry and helps elucidate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.

"What makes this work so exciting is not simply its content--fascinating though that is--but its revolutionary challenge to some of Western culture's most familiar moral assumptions." --Jean Strouse, Newsweek

"Truly groundbreaking work. Boswell reveals unexplored phenomena with an unfailing erudition." --Michel Foucault

"[Boswell] has mastered one of the rarest skills: the ability to write about sex with genuine wit. Improbable as it might seem, this work of unrelenting scholarship and high intellectual drama is also thoroughly entertaining." --Paul Robinson, New York Times Book Review

John Boswell (1947-1994) was the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of History at Yale University and the author of The Royal Treasure, The Kindness of Strangers, and Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Ultimately unconvincing
John Boswell's "Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality" was published already in 1980. The author argues that Christian intolerance against gays (his term) isn't based on the Bible, but rather on little understood social and economic changes during the 13th and 14th centuries in Western Europe.

I consider this thesis unconvincing. Of course, all religious scriptures are the subject of interpretation and re-interpretation. History is ultimately driven by other factors than what some scribbler put in the Bible, which is contradictory anyway. In *this* sense, intolerance against homosexuality doesn't "come from the Bible", but strictly speaking, neither does anything else. However, Boswell goes one step further, arguing that the Bible really isn't hostile to homosexual behaviour at all. This is covert "gay theology", not scholarly research. Besides, Boswell admits that the epistle of Barnabas is homophobic and was something of a favourite proof text for homophobic churchmen. Today, the epistle is considered apocryphal, but for a long time it was a legitimate part of the New Testament (i.e. the Bible). Boswell then writes that churchmen often considered to be anti-gay were just as opposed to heterosexual relations. While this is true, it's difficult not to see it as a potential source for homophobia (or indeed misogyny).

The author is probably on safer ground when he points out that the Late Roman Empire was teeming with gays, that homosexuality wasn't always considered to be the gravest sin, and that some Christians were pro-gay during the 9th and 10th centuries. This is a necessary corrective to the view that fighting homosexual relations always had top priority within the Church. The first church council which explicitly condemned homosexuality was Lateran III, meeting in 1179. (In Lutheran Sweden, courts could be surprisingly lenient to gays even during the otherwise strongly conformist 17th and 18th centuries.)

However, I don't think Boswell will convince "Bible-believing" Christians today into changing their opinions. The text of the Bible, after all, condemns homosexual relations. Unfortunately.

to know the past
this is an excellant text- it reviews everything christian 500 years ago-by definition it not only covers gay history, but medieval history and jewish history- it is exhaustingly complete and though it makes errors and has language conceits that are truly almost obnoxious-this writer refuses to translate classical greek for example-of course we all know classical greek-you will therefor miss many of his points unless of course you understand classical greek as well. this snobbery level is all over the text-but you will grow to overlook them as you see what it offers. buy the book and learn something different.

Stunning science - a most useful view, even if one might not agree with every thesis
A Must to read:

(1) to read to understand
even if not every argument may be convincing the work makes clear that there are more possibilities of moral understandig and - at the same time! - of scientific search of the truth than the ones thaught by many "official" opinion leaders of science and of the body of the roman catholic church... the truth is seldom just black or white

(2) to be better prepared to fight for truth in science and - not less important - for equal rights for gay people for science often is as well a matter of (social) justice

(3) however the findings are judged it is a good way of struggling...argue in a scientic way if you do not agree and go not for the person...

Thank you John Boswell!

Important Scholarship Flawed by Religious Apologetics
When John Boswell's magnum opus appeared in 1980, it was immediately hailed by gay Christians, to whom he was a new Savior, who would rescue them not only from homophobic religionists, but also from gay infidels like myself.Here I must emphasize that most of the early activists for homosexual rights -- from the latter part of the 19th century through the first third of the 20th -- were hostile to religions, which they considered responsible for the historic oppression of gay men.

Boswell was a Believer, whose goal was to reconcile homosexuality and Christianity -- to plead for greater tolerance for "gay people", while at the same time exonerating Mother Church for her role in the oppression of homosexual men.In Boswell's own words: "Much of the present volume ... is specifically intended to rebut the common idea that religious belief -- Christian or other -- has been the _cause_ of intolerance in regard to gay people."

_Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality_ (CSTH) is a formidable work of scholarship, which has much of value.But Boswell's arguments are fatally flawed by his doomed attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable.In his effort to marry the gay liberation movement to the Christian Church, Boswell is often required to compromise the former, while becoming complicitous in the historic crimes of the latter.

Among Boswell's academic transgressions are his ignoring of scholarship hostile to his own case, misinterpreting biblical passages, suppressing evidence, misrepresenting Roman laws of the 4th century AD, and so on.This is not the place to go into the deatils.Suffice it to say that CSTH, despite its popular success, was received very negatively by scholarly specialists.The monograph, "Homosexuality, Intolerance, and Christianity: A Critical Examination of John Boswell's Work" -- by Warren Johansson, Wayne R. Dynes and John Lauritsen -- shows that none of Boswell's leading arguments for a gay-friendly Christianity hold up under critical examination.(This monograph is in the library of the Pink Triangle Trust.)

To be a scholar is to be committed to the truth, whether or not one finds it palatable.The hateful words in Holy Scripture -- saying that males who make love to each other should be put to death -- really do mean what they say.Over the centuries, owing to the taboo against male-male sex in the Holiness Code of Leviticus, gay men really were imprisoned, tortured, and killed.Our liberation is allied with knowledge, not with superstition.Accordingly, the name of the world's first homosexual right organization (founded in Berlin in 1897) was the Scientific Humanitarian Committee.

Despite his shortcomings, Boswell was an important gay scholar.For me his greatest contribution was the third chapter of CSTH, "Rome: The Foundation", which cogently makes the case that in Ancient Rome, sex between males was an accepted part of life.The obscure Lex Scantinia did not, and could not, have categorically outlawed sex between males, citizens or non-citizens.

Attitudes Toward Homosexuality
Boswell, John. "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century",(1980) University of Chicago Press, 2005 (reprint).

Attitudes toward Homosexuality

Amos Lassen

"Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality" is a look at the attitudes toward homosexuality in the Christian West and it challenges opinions and preconceptions about the relationship of the Church to its gay members among whom are priests, bishops and even canonized saints. John Boswell begins his book with the Greeks and goes through many sources (legal, literary, artistic, scientific and theological) and this volume becomes the most extensive look to date on the subject. Boswell spent over ten years in researching his book and he thys gives us a recolutionary challenge to some of the most familiar assumptions of Western culture. Boswell is able to write about sex with great wit and also with great scholarship and he makes it all very entertaining.
The book basically looks at how homosexuality has been treated by the Christian church from the beginning of the Christian era until the 14th century.His thesis is that homosexuality was not recognized then as it is today likewise it was not condemned in the same way. Many close relationships developed into sexual ones and this was not considered in any way unusual. The larger condemnation of homosexuality did not begin until the 13th and 14th centuries when tolerance stopped being the accepted way and the church began its consolidation of power. Christian attitudes toward homosexuality have always been interpretive and there have been various interpretations during different periods of time. This goes against the modern conception in America that homophobia has been always constant in Christianity.
Some mant feel that the arguments are thin but it is this book that was the cause of many new studies that have been done and are being done. This is a book that should be read by those gay people who are struggling with self-acceptance and it is a great feeling to realize that Christianity and homophobia are not related. It is an important look at an important issue. It is not perfect but it does give us a great deal to think about.
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Product Description
Combining historical and political analysis with autobiography and memoir, Making Trouble brings together the essays of John D`Emilio, a pioneering gay historian and long-time movement activist. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Really accessible book by a noted gay scholar
John D'Emilio is a celebrated gay academic who wrote about gay issues when scholars were too afraid to risk their chances for tenure to do so.He is just as brave as George Chauncey and Esther Newton, gay academics who fought for the right to do gay scholarship.This book is a smorgasbord of his essays.It includes his groundbreaking piece "Capitalism and Gay Identity."It also has an awesome chapter where D'Emilio critiques anti-porn feminist activism.This book would be easy for non-academic readers to peruse as well.I would recommend this and all of D'Emilio's books. ... Read more

Product Description
Gay love is a collection of erotic stories from some of the best erotic authors.Stories include:

Put a Ring on It by Elizabeth Coldwell:

When Ian sees his friend Dylan’s new Prince Albert piercing in the shower, he wonders what it would feel like during sex. But Dylan is straight and married, so there’s no chance of finding out – or so Ian thinks. Dylan challenges him to a game of pool, with the loser having to do whatever the winner wants, and suddenly it seems Dylan is kinkier and more demanding than Ian could ever have imagined...

Aduniad by Celyn Lleuad:

Most of the time, Maxwell and Trevor can handle the 200 kilometres that separate them. Finding their footing as a couple, particularly after Max asks Trev to try his hand at domination, is not quite as easy. Tonight, a university holiday finally puts Max right where he wants to be – within arm’s reach of Trevor. Trevor gets Max into bed, but once there, they discover that nothing in life is ever as straight-forward as it seems...

Automatic Transmission by Alcamia: It’s often said that to love others, you must first love yourself, but few can fully explore the truth behind this when it comes to sex. Two who are contortionist – and kinky – enough to test out the theory are Ellis and Automatic. But will they live up to each other’s expectations? And how will auto-pleasure compare to two-way loving? Discover which kind of sex wins out in this unusual story with many a twist and turn along the way...

Fisherman’s Friend by John Connor:

What do you do when you find out the person you thought you wanted to spend the rest of your life with has been cottaging behind your back? Simple.I decided it was time for me to get out of the big city and as far away from it all as I could.Get back to the thing I thought I did best, down on the Cornish coast.Only I hadn’t counted on finding myself getting hooked ona local fisherman – nor being able to resist the lure of his enticing bait, no matter how much I wanted to...

One More Ride by Sommer Marsden:

We’ve all been warned about the bad boys. And Chris has sworn off boys – bad or otherwise – for good. Until Will looks at him a beat too long, and then he’s done for. Chris’s friend warns him that Will is a bike boy, who lives, eats and breathes his motorcycle. But who can resist a fabulous biker boy, the call of the asphalt, being a hot stud’s bike bitch or just one more ride for the road? Not Chris.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Good Read.
I enjoyed the stories in this collection especially One More Ride. One More Ride was very well written and left me wanting more. I would like to see the characters in a follow up sex scene.

My least favorite story was Aduniad. This story had too much dialogue which left the sex scene feeling slightly out of place. To me, the dialogue left me confused by the end of the story instead of aroused.

Overall, I enjoyed the book!

Gay Love
This collection of five short stories takes you on a roller coaster journey from the ordinary; the football, beer and takeaway curry in `Put a Ring On It', slap bang into the middle of something completely different in `Automatic Transmission', which deals with the subject of auto-fellatio.

I have never read a story about this particular subject before and I thought it was very well done, being both fascinating and sexy at the same time.The characters were believable and the sex scenes conjured up the heady atmosphere of the nightclub, and the thrill of finally getting what you want.

I loved 'Put a Ring on It' with it's everyday, `beer drinking boys' characters, then was seduced by the sweet romanticism of Fisherman's Friend, which I thought was brilliantly written.

The other stories, 'Aduniad' and 'One More Ride' were good, but for me, compared to the others in the book, they didn't give you the chance to really get into the story, focusing more on the build up rather than the actual sex.

All in all this anthology is a good introduction to the genre, at times sweet, at times dirty, and it leaves you wanting more.
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Product Description
John Gay (1685-1732) was an English poet and dramatist. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera (1728), set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names. In 1715, probably with some help from Pope, he produced What d'ye Call it?, a dramatic skit on contemporary tragedy, with special reference to Thomas Otway's Venice Preserved. In 1716 appeared his Trivia; or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London, a poem in three books, for which he acknowledged having received several hints from Swift. In 1717 he produced the comedy, Three Hours After Marriage, which was grossly indecent without being amusing, and was a complete failure. Gay had numerous patrons, and in 1720 he published Poems on Several Occasions by subscription, taking in £1000 or more. In 1727 he wrote for Prince William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland, his famous Fifty-One Fables in Verse, for which he naturally hoped to gain some preferment, although he has much to say in them of the servility of courtiers and the vanity of court honours. ... Read more

Product Description
The tale of Peachum, thief-taker and informer, conspiring to send the dashing and promiscuous highwayman Macheath to the gallows, became the theatrical sensation of the eighteenth century. In "Beggar's Opera", John Gay turned conventions of Italian opera riotously upside-down, instead using traditional popular ballads and street tunes, while also indulging in political satire at the expense of the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Gay's highly original depiction of the thieves, informers, prostitutes and highwaymen thronging the slums and prisons of the corrupt London underworld proved brilliantly successful in exposing the dark side of a corrupt and jaded society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

The Birth of Mack the Knife best read in this Regents Restoration Drama edition
The beggar's opera,: And companion pieces (Crofts classics) is good as it includes extra writings from Mr. John Gay, friend of Jonathan Swift (the Irish cleric of The Essential Writings of Jonathan Swift (Norton Critical Edition) and A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works (Dover Thrift Editions) and Gulliver's Travels (Oxford World's Classics)) and collaborator with Alexander Pope in the gathering and editting of Shakespeare's plays. Specifically the Croft edition contains excerpts from Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London.

We would wish very much to find a complete edition of the writings and plays of Mr. Gay, yet we are fortunate to find at least one here in this Regents Restoration Drama edition, the one for which he is most famous, as it was gratefully adapted by Mr. Bertolt Brecht some eighty years ago for the well known The Threepenny Opera (Penguin Classics), whose Kurt Weill music we groundlings know best in the one song Mack the Knife.

Here in the Regents edition we find the original play, with the longest section of this book the collection of sheet music with songs and lyrics, the melodies of which come from traditional airs of that time, as this was the earliest ballad opera. A brilliant introduction by Edgar V. Roberts presents fully the history, context, arguement and effects of this opera, which basically satirizes the felonoius larceny of the London aristocracy in the guise of cheap hoodlums and thieves, as if Dick Cheney's Halliburton ran and protected no more than your city, for a fee.

Read this book. Know your history. See what is happening today under our globalization and free trade agreements. Read this book.

A very helpful chronology completes this volume, setting Gay into the context of his day. This may be all we can hope for, and I certainly would like to read the rest of Trivia, and of Polly, and of The What D'ye Call It.

All professions be rogue one another
Absolutely deplorable people doing rather hardhearted things. Loved it! Couldn't stop reading it once I had scanned the first couple of lines. What's not to love about a cast of 18th century rogues and lowlifes? I just wish I could see this actually performed-- seems like it'd be extremely entertaining to watch.

Birth of the Modern Musical - John Gay's GeniusOverwhelms Italian Opera
From its first performance, January 29, 1728, The Beggar's Opera was an absolute success. In that period a box office hit might be continued for four or five nights. Remarkably, The Beggar's Opera ran sixty-two nights in London, and was produced nearly every year thereafter to 1886. Its popularity quickly spread to Wales and Scotland, France and Germany, and even to the New England colonies (and became a favorite of George Washington).

A London revival in 1920 ran 1,463 performances. A Beggar's Opera Club had membership limited to those that had seen at least 40 performances. Bertholt Brecht's twentieth century version, Three Penny Opera, was immensely successful too. A jazzy rendition of one of Brecht's songs, Mack the Knife, became Number One on the Hit Parade in the early 1960s.

John Gay's innovative musical appealed to the masses with its rollicking, rowdy, English lyrics overlain on old, sentimental melodies. Formal, highly structured, Italian opera was shoved aside by this novel musical form.

The cast was equally original, being comprised of cutthroats, pickpockets, thieves, streetwalkers, highwaymen, and a corrupt jailer. Polly Peachum, the sweet, trusting daughter of the roguish Peachum, was the only honest character in the play. Miss Lavina Fenton, perhaps the best theatrical singer of her day, became immensely popular for her role as Polly and at end of the run - the sixty-two performances - she married the Duke of Bolton and retired from acting.

The audience was quick to associate Newgate Prison with Whitehall; the deceitful, avaricious Peachum (Polly's father) with Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister;Macheath's band of rogues (Jemmy Twitcher, Crook-Fingered Jack, Nimming Ned, etc.) with aristocratic courtiers, and Macheath's women of the streets (Mrs. Coaxer, Dolly Trull, Mrs. Vixen, Molly Brazen, etc.) with ladies of high society.

This short three-act play has some forty-five scenes, almost all with musical interludes. Gay holds this myriad of scenes together through nearly continuous action, more akin to a modern film than to the conventional eighteenth century play.

The Penguin Classics edition (titled The Beggar's Opera, as might be expected), edited by Brian Loughrey and T. O. Treadwell, is quite good and not difficult to find.

Another good choice (and my favorite) is The Beggar's Opera published by Barron's Educational Series, edited by Benjamin Griffith, and illustrated by Keogh with full page ink-line drawings of the key characters. The lengthy, three part introduction - the playwright, the play, and the staging - is quite helpful. The initial musical notes are presented along with the lyrics.

The Beggar's Opera, Regents Restoration Drama Series, Nebraska University Press, 1969 may be more suitable for English majors as it offers a scholarly introduction by Edgar V. Roberts.An extensive appendix, some 140 pages, is a compilation of the music of The Beggar's Opera with keyboard accompaniments, edited by Edward Smith.

The Beggar's Opera and Companion Pieces, Crofts Classics, 1966, edited by C. F. Burgess is particularly valuable - and somewhat unique - for including Gay's enjoyable poem Trivia (subtitled The Art of Walking the Streets of London), other poems (Newgate's Garland, 'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring, Sweet William's Farewell, Molly Mog, An Epistle to a Lady, and The Hare and Many Friends), and extracts from various letters.A possible drawback may be the absence of musical scores in the text, although the lyrics are embedded within the play itself.

A delicious romp
Life is a jest; and all things show it,I thought so once; but now I know it.- John Gay's epitaph As we sit here, nearly 300 years removed from the debut of The Beggar's Opera,it's hard to recapture the effect that it had on the England of 1728. So lookat it this way, John Gay was the Sex Pistols of his day and The Beggar's Operahit London likeNever Mind the Bollocks....

Since Italian opera had first come to London in 1705, it had dominated theBritish stage. Replete with ornate sets, elaborate costumes, unintelligibleplots and imported sopranos and castrati, it was less art than event. Audiencesattended to share in the spectacle, as chariots swooped through the air &romantic tales unfolded on stage. Into this artificial world, Gay unleashed an opera about the scum of Londonsociety, set in taverns and thieves' dens. He tells the story of Peachum, afence with a lucrative sideline in informing on fellow criminals. His daughterPolly has secretly married MacHeath, a highwayman. Now Peachum and his "wife"fear that MacHeath will inform on them & inherit their loot when they arehanged. After berating Polly for marrying, & not having sense enough to liveout of wedlock, they decide to turn MacHeath in, before he can turn them in. AsPeachum prepares his daughter for this turn of events he tells her: "Thecomfortable estate of widowhood, is the only hope that keeps up a wife'sspirits. Where is the woman who would scruple to be a wife, if she had it inher power to be a widow whenever she pleased?" However, to the Peachum'sdisgust, Polly is actually in love with MacHeath and so, to her great surprise,are several other women, including Lucy Lockit who helps him to escape fromprison. So, the stage is set for a madcap farce. Mix in a satiric look at the corrupt administration of justice, some politicaljabs at the political master of the day, Sir Robert Walpole and songs like thefollowing:

A fox may steal your hens, sirA whore your health and pence, sir,Your daughter rob your chest, sirYour wife may steal your rest, sir,A thief your goods and plate.But this is all but picking,With rest, pence, chest and chicken;It ever was decreed, sir,If lawyer's hand is fee'd, sir,He steals your whole estate.

and you've got Gay's recipe for what quickly became the most popular play of the18th Century, fathering myriad imitations including Brecht's Threepenny Opera.A delicious romp. GRADE: A

Crime, Love and the Opera
The Beggar's Opera by John Gay is an artful yet honest representation of London in the early 1700s.As the Editor's introduction notes, it is a political satire that brings to life the actions of such notorious figuresas Jonathan Wild and Robert Walpole.In the Beggar's introduction thereader is made aware of the author's intent to mock the recent craze of theItalian Opera, which is considered by Gay to be thouroughly"unnatural."Immediately after that we are exposed to thecorruption of a city offical, Peachum (whose name means "to informagainst a fellow criminal"), as he is choosing which criminals shouldlive, as they are still profitable, and who should not, as they have turnedhonest.Peachum's character of both an arch-criminal and law man isinteresting enough in his daily dealings; add to that his daughter's recentmarriage to a highwayman (who the father then plots to send to thegallows).Not to mention what happens when the highwayman runs into an oldaquaintance of his, who visibly shows his earlier affection, and you havewhat makes to be a highly entertaining, emotional, and educational story of18th century London.The dialogue is well written, and the only problem amodern reader might have is the operatic aspect.I suspect that themockery of the opera is not felt as much when read but rather whenperformed.Note to reader: it makes it much easier to understand if youread the introduction.There you will find instances of "real"London that the playwrite is satirizing. For all lovers of period Englishpieces who enjoy a cynical wit. ... Read more

Product Description
Packed to the hilt with living narratives, scholarly research, and problem-solution scenarios, Queer Kids: The Challenges and Promise for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth examines the unique challenges faced by today’s homosexual young adults. You’ll learn what modern-day queer kids do to cope, survive, and find understanding in a world riddled with homophobic intolerance.

Queer Kids is a lens of clarity that will help the average straight adult--and maybe even the average gay adult--see things from a kid’s point of view. Its detail-oriented, well-wrought chapters will provide you with literally hundreds of stories of young people who are trying to define themselves sexually and emotionally in a society of criss-crossing judgment, stereotyping, anger, and expectation. Aimed at three target groups--counselors, parents, and youth--this book introduces you to a variety of interesting kids, offers you a look at the process of coming out, and helps you grasp the experience of queer identification. Specifically, you’ll read about:

• queer kids and their families and peers
• the medical/health care profession’s impact on queer kids
• the teachers and counselors of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth
• how to alleviate harrassment, abuse, withdrawal, and loneliness
• the effects of familial denial, prejudiced counselors, and standoffish gay adults
  
  Being a kid is tough--but being a queer kid can be even tougher. Fortunately, Queer Kids is available for students, ministers, teachers, youth- and health-care workers, and especially the friends and families of teens who are working through the personal turbulence that too often accompanies sexual and emotional definition. Guided by its upfront approach and practical resource list of written, computer, and telephone aids, you’ll see that a solution is not as distant as you think. Read it, and relearn what it means to be a kid again.

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must Read for all Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Youth!
This book is an excellent source for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Youth andtheir supporters. This book is full of relevent information, tons ofstatistics, and plenty of excerpts from interviews with youth about everyaspect of their sexuality. READ THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

The two sides of D'Emilio for the new millenium
This book reflects D'Emilio's roles as gay history scholar and policy director at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). It resembles both his rigorous scholarly "Sexual Politics,..." and his social commenting "Making Trouble." This book will be both a challenge and a pleasure to everyday gay folks and nerdy queer theorists. The book is a compilation of essays regarding gay rights in the 90s, civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, and other such topics. Some people may not like the scrapbook feel here. D'Emilio chose to start the work with the heady academic stuff and that may scare off readers who will really enjoy the rest of it. Many of the entries are speeches he gave and they become repetitive after a while. Still, he does a great job of assessing gay rights in the last decade and summarizing the struggle over the past half century. D'Emilio is ever the counterintuitive thinker, but that's exactly what open-minded gay people need to be reading. A lot of the chapters center upon boys, but D'Emilio still maintains his status as a very pro-feminist, anti-androcentric gay male theorist. He does include this chapter about his changing sex life which implies that he and his partner are celibate; a fact that I highly doubt. However, his discussion about NGLTF is wonderful; there hasn't been enough analysis of gay institutions. At times, the book is kinda preachy and defensive. Still, I'm glad he opens a space for gay work that is not as light as "The Advocate" but not as heavy as Foucault. He still shows that he's a sharp progressive thinker and many ppl would benefit by getting their hands on this book. ... Read more

Product Description
After his uncle dies, Ryan Belcrest inherits the old stately home and grounds of Stanton Hall. Once he moves in, he asks the handsome Mark Salisbury, his family attorney, to hire him a gay butler. Ryan interviews Scott and hires him for the live-in position—and Mark immediately sees Scott as competition for Ryan's affections.

Then Ryan finds a journal describing odd events and ghostly happenings in the house. At first Ryan dismisses his uncle's scribbled ravings... but then he sees a ghost! While trying to sort out what to do about Scott and Mark, Ryan discovers that the phantoms may be connected to past crimes and the abandoned family crematorium, and the only way to appease the ghosts of Stanton Hall and live happily ever after is to see justice served. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A fun light-hearted tale.
John Simpson knows how to entertain, and he does it well with "The Ghosts of Stanton Hall". When Ryan inherits his uncle's estate, he finds it comes with more than he bargained for. Several ghosts inhabit the building. Some are frightening, but one in particular is quite frisky, and Ryan and his gay butler Scott find it rather disconcerting to wake up and feel hands upon them when nobody's there.

The pace is nice and John's writing style is engaging. This isn't a scary tale, it's light and whimsical and has its own unique charm found only in other John Simpson novels. He always manages to bring you right into his stories, and they're delightful reads. This is perfect summer reading material or when you have a quiet afternoon to yourself.

Enjoyable, light read...
...but it could have been better.

I decided to download this book because I was looking for a M/M romance with a spooky feel to put me in the Halloween mood.I didn't think this was going to be Stephen King scary, but I hoped for a few goosebumps.It didn't happen.The supernatural elements were actually very predictable.No surprises.

The pace of the book is quick as events and days zip by.The premise and characters are both very enjoyable.I read it in one sitting

One other thing. The description is not really accurate when it says, "Ryan interviews Scott and hires him for the live-in position-and Mark immediately sees Scott as competition for Ryan's affections."There is never really any tension between these two characters.

What I liked about this book is that the characters did things that you'd expect your average real gay male to do.Things get messy when attractive men are around each other and relationships are new.

I'm horrible when deciding how many stars to give it because I really did enjoy the book even though it was totally predictable.So is it 3 or 4?4, I think.

... Read more

Product Description
There is no question that AIDS has been, and continues to be, one of the most destructive diseases of the century, taking thousands of lives, devastating communities, and exposing prejudice and bigotry. But AIDS has also been a disease of transformation--it has fueled the national gay civil rights movement, altered medical research and federal drug testing, shaken up both federal and local politics, and inspired a vast cultural outpouring. Victory Deferred, the most comprehensive account of the epidemic in more than ten years, is the history of both the destruction and transformation wrought by AIDS.

John-Manuel Andriote chronicles the impact of the disease from thecoming-out revelry of the 1970s to the post-AIDS gay community of the1990s, showing how it has changed both individual lives and nationalorganizations.He tells the truly remarkable story of how a healthcrisis pushed a disjointed jumble of local activists to become anationally visible and politically powerful civil rights movement, afull-fledged minority group challenging the authority of some of thenation's most powerful institutions.Based on hundreds of interviewswith those at the forefront of the medical, political, and culturalresponses to the disease, Victory Deferred artfully blendspersonal narratives with institutional histories and organizationalpolitics to show how AIDS forced gay men from their closets andghettos into the hallways of power to lobby and into the streets toprotest.

Andriote, who has been at the center of national advocacy and AIDS politics in Washington, is judicious without being uncritical, and his account of the political maturation of the gay community is one of the most stirring civil rights stories of our time.

Victory Deferred draws on hundreds of original interviews, including first-hand accounts from:Virginia Apuzzo, Reverend Carl Bean, Marcus Conant, M.D., John D'Emilio, Anthony Fauci, M.D, Fenton Johnson, Larry Kramer, Lawrence D. Mass, M.D., Armistead Maupin, Walt Odets, Torie Osborn, Eric Rofes, Urvashi Vaid, Timothy Westmoreland, and Reggie Williams.Amazon.com Review
AIDS may have become a manageable disease syndrome, at least in Western countries, at the end of the 1990s, but the crisis has hardly run its course; as HIV continues to mutate, doomsayers predict even worse epidemics closely resembling AIDS in their etiology and social ramifications. Likewise, despite a large extant body of commentary--what Paula Treichler has called the "epidemic of signification"--work continues apace on the syndrome's history, a chronicle of devastating physical consequences and troublesome politics that for years prevented government and health officials, to say nothing of religious leaders and media pundits, from responding in the most effective, compassionate manner. But, given all the plague chronicles from historians, artists, musicians, and literati, how can one construct another comprehensive history of equal necessity? That was the question facing journalist John-Manuel Andriote when friends encouraged him to emphasize the effects of the syndrome on "the nation's hardest hit community, gay men." As such an account, intercutting personal testimonies with Andriote's straightforward, though righteously indignant, narrative, Victory Deferred serves a very useful purpose.

Andriote sets the stage for the identification of AIDS as a distinct political issue and disease syndrome by describing U.S. gay life of the 1970s, an era inaugurated by Stonewall and characterized by parallel increases in political activism and promiscuity. As the one fueled the other, he argues, gay men were rehearsing for the struggle that their sexual behavior would, in a sense, later require. Unfortunately, Andriote makes mistakes common to certain forms of AIDS reportage and thoroughly deconstructed in AIDS theory--calling it an STD that men "contract," for example--that go hand in hand with stereotypical foreshadowing ("little did they know") and foresight ("this would help in the fight against AIDS"). He admirably strives to avoid political correctness, however, and makes good use of his varied sources, ending with the precarious but hopeful '90s. Victory Deferred in no way supplants the indispensable work of predecessors such as Dennis Altman and Douglas Crimp, but Andriote has nevertheless written a fine overview of the 20th century's last major epidemic. --Robert Burns Neveldine ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Victory Deferred:AIDS Insidethe Gay Community
We have waited for a voice within the gay community to relate what AIDShas done and continues to do to our souls.Andiote bares that soul to thescrutiny of a verteran journalist and writer.He descibes the gaycommunity's response to the AIDS epidemic. He outlines the growth thecommunity made in the process.He isn't afraid to criticize whereappropriate.

He tells the stories of the heroes of and the commentatorson the epidemic.He delves, for example, into the internal machinations ofa community trying to deal with safer sex and outlines both successes andfailures.He indentifies the ongoing crisis and politics of promotingbehavior change in the most intimate aspect of our lives. Through this typeof no holds barred reporting that Andriote conveys the impact of AIDS on acommunity struggling to free itself from past and present disease relateddefinitions.

Andriote's research is thorough, interviewing two hundredactivitist and paritcipants.These individuals tell the story of a gaymovement catapulted to the forefront of America's consciousness.He startswell before rhe empidemic and couches it in the context of a liberationstuggle.He tells the insider's story.

Victory Deferred will supplantRandy Shilt's And the Band Played On as the dinifitive story of onecommunity heroically responding to the health crisis of the century.

It's not over till it's over
John-Manuel Andriote has accomplished a momumental task in this historicaland moving account of the AIDS epidemic. He has done an exhaustive study ofthe progression of this disease and has intervied people from the trenchesto the board rooms.

As a journalist he has kept a focus on reporting thefacts, as a gay man he has infused each chapter with the passion that comesfrom loosing so many friends and loved ones.

He has a keen eye to connectso many different facets and factions and does not hold back in speakingthe truth as he has discovered it. AIDS has certainly not only just changedgay life in America, it has changed life in America.

I give this bookfive stars and know that it will be a work that I will refer to over andover in the years ahead.

A must read
Mr. Andriote's excellent book is a must read for anyone interested in themajor events that have shaped the last three decades of the 20th century. It is an excellent and thoughtful overview of the tragic social, politicaland economic events that shaped the response to the AIDS epidemic. Thisbook should be mandatory reading in colleges, medical schools and schoolsof public health.

The book is great!
This book is very well written.It's obvious that a lot of hard work andtime were put into it.The author is a truly gifted writer.I hope hecontinues his efforts and we see a lot more his work here. ... Read more

Product Description
The debate on whether or not people are born homosexual (biological essentialist theory) or become homosexual during the course of their lives (social constructionist theory) continues as each side claims to prove the truth through research and clinical findings. This breakthrough book shows the fissures in concepts of the gay and lesbian identity and the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of both sexual and gender identity. The editors present an alternative view--sexual and gender expression is a product of complementary biological, personal, and cultural influences in If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?

Through theoretical analysis, ethnographic and empirical data, and case studies, the editors show how the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of sexual and gender identity make it difficult, if not impossible, to conceptually determine the origin of an individual’s sexual expression. This thought-provoking book covers many topics that are sure to cause readers to re-evaluate their thinking about the origins of gay and lesbian identity. Among the topics examined with this fresh perspective are:

• Childhood Cross-Gender Behavior and Adult Homosexuality
• Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Coming Out
• Homosexuality, Marriage, Fidelity, and the Gay Community: Case of Gay Husbands
• Can Seduction Make Straight Men Gay?
• Gay and Lesbian Identities in Non-industrialized Societies--Surinam (Dutch New Guinea), Turkey, Nicaragua, and Argentina
• Political-Economic Construction of Gay Male Identities
  
  Readers will clearly see that the controversy over the being born gay or becoming gay debate is far from resolved. From the beginning, the book explores how human beings are less constrained by biology than many would like to believe. Social circumstances and economics cause some determination of identity, but not exclusively. Theoretical introductions to each chapter attempt to synthesize elements on both sides of this most contemporary debate.

Product Description
As a clinical psychologist, Jean Baker had always considered herself open-minded and tolerant, but found she wasn’t prepared for the revelation that her only two children were both gay. Family Secrets is an inspirational story of how she and her family learned to accept one another and overcome their internalized fears and prejudices as well as how they coped with a much greater challenge in their personal lives--HIV/AIDS.

Family Secrets is more than a parenting memoir, however. It is a guide that draws upon research and scientific findings to capsize the myths and stereotypes that contribute to societal homophobia. It offers important insight into the developmental needs of gay children, and it discusses the issues faced by gay and lesbian youth and their families.

Offering practical suggestions about how parents and schools can help gay, lesbian, and bisexual children grow up to be productive, psychologically healthy adults, Family Secrets discusses the effects of social prejudice and stigma on the social and emotional development of sexual minorities. As long as homophobia is running rampant in American society, gay children are going to be reluctant or afraid to confide in their parents, and parents will have trouble understanding and accepting homosexuality in their children. To end the secrecy and build open and healthy environments for all children and adolescents, this book discusses:

• tactics for reducing homophobia in non-gay youths
• promoting tolerance and understanding of sexual minorities at home and in school
• the effects an AIDS death has on families
• “coming out” about HIV/AIDS
• discussing homosexuality with your children, regardless of whether or not they are gay or lesbian
• sexual orientation and the interaction of biology with experience
  
  Because Family Secrets is written from the viewpoint of a parent/psychologist, it offers insights into the developmental needs of gay and lesbian children in a way that no other book has done. School counselors, psychologists, marriage and family counselors, teachers, school administrators, and the parents and siblings of gays and lesbians will all benefit from reading this honest, helpful, and encouraging book.

Customer Reviews (3)

A starkly honest and painful book... bring a hanky
Tragedy is a common theme, and I've cried at any number of sad stories, but rarely have I felt such a personal sense of loss as I felt by the end of this book. Dr. Baker brings her family to life in the pages of _Family Secrets_ so vividly that we feel they are our own. Her descriptions of her gradual acceptance of homosexuality in her family... the mistakes she made... the regrets she has... and the love, pride and devotion she felt are so honest they are almost painful to read.

This book confronts many issues--the acceptance of gays in our society, the social stigma of being gay or having a gay child, the tragedy of AIDS--but more than that it stands as a loving tribute to a beloved son. Dr. Baker is giving her son immortality by documenting his life, his passions, his thoughts... he once said "someday I'll be famous" ... what a tremendous gift.

The damaging effects of homophobia.
This remarkable and moving book combines the personal experience of a mother as she learns that her two sons are both gay, and a psychologist's perspective on the damaging effects of homophobia upon gay youth and their families. Jean Baker, in Family Secrets, shares with the reader the heartbreak of losing a beloved son to AIDS and offers suggestions on ways to reduce anti-gay prejudice and prejudice toward those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. This is a book which should be read by all parents, prospective parents, educators and others engaged in working with youth, and also by those who themselves are gay, lesbian or bisexual.

No "warm and fuzzy" feelings here.
For this, my first review for Amazon, I have chosen, what was for me, a "difficult read".I guess it was the title, which caught my eye, as I was searching through Amazon. No reviews had been posted.Having been quite close to my own mother, I was in hopes that this would be a touching story of a mother and her two gay sons.I found it to be, for the most part, therapy for the author.As a gay man, perhaps this book was not written for me, but for parents of gay children and parents in general.I would be interested in reading a review from someone in this category.

The first paragraph of the preface reads:"As a clinical psychologist who is also the mother of two gay children, I was professionally knowledgeable about homosexuality and believed I was more tolerant than most, but I was unprepared for coping with homosexuality in my own family."The rest of the book is an expansion of just how unprepared the author was.

Instead of a biography of her favorite son (my words, not hers) Gary, or even an autobiography of the author herself, you find yourself reading the words of someone who is trying to analyze every aspect of every adverse decision they have made in their lives.In the end, you hope that there will be some revelation, and if nothing else, at least the author will give you the feeling that everything is OK and though life is tough, she survived, and so can you.No such "warm and fuzzy" feelings here.I can only hope that the author has a good therapist herself. ... Read more

Product Description
Gay and Bisexual men embody tremendous passion, vitality, healing, and creativity-qualities that have the potential to make life incredibly rich and meaningful. Unfortunately, most men-loving men learn very early to distrust their greatest gifts and to hide or deny their deepest dreams and desires. The wounding goes deep - even men who are positive and open about their sexuality can still find themselves troubled by nagging doubts that keep them from reaching their full potential.

Gay Spirit Warrior invites you on a unique, personalized journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Whether you're just coming out or have been out for years, it will give you tools to reclaim the wisdom, strength, and vision at your core. An easy blend of stories, discussion, and practical exercises guides you to find your own answers about what it means to live and love fully, create satisfying relationships, and celebrate your whole being. In the end, no area of your life will be the same.

Gay Spirit Warrior is spirituality at its most practical-a radical, invigorating adventure in self-transformation. It answers a growing call among individuals and groups for a sensible, practical guide to healthy, empowered living. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent workbook
This book is excellent. If you're looking for a workbook for transformation, and you're willing to look deep into the mirror of yourself and do the work, the rewards are many.

Not a weekend read. Not a quick, one time thing. This book challenges you, through writing, journaling, reflecting, to really unlock, release, burn away, and heal the old wounds that plague so many of us. It takes time and is well worth the journey.

GAY SPIRIT WARRIOR: A THERAPISTS REVIEW
This book focuses on the challenges faced by gay men and those with whom they associate. I believe it should be an essential part of any therapist's library. The author writes from a multi-level perspective, focusing on aparticular circumstances that gay men may find challenging in each chapter. Advice is given on when to consider therapy, how to relate to oneself,one's past, and society in general. For many years therapists and otherprofessionals have struggled with the immense difficulties this populationfaces and they will find excellent insight into the special needs of gaymen as well as an outstanding model of working with gay men who haveproblems. The discussion on spirituality is especially interesting as itaddresses the obstacles gay men face with organized religion and how it mayaffect them.The author's style of writing shows empathy and insightthat will appeal to readers.It is a clear and honest look at thisimportant issue.

Toolbox for the Gay Soul
Let others search for "the boyfriend within" -- John Stowe offers ways we can discover our true inner Gay Spirit Warrior. This is exactly the journey that therapist/bodyworker John Stowe takes us on inthis intensive-workshop-in-a-book, the shining result of decades of theauthor's teaching, counseling, and leading in the gay spirit arena. Stowe,who clearly has done his internal homework, seems to embody the veryprinciples he lays out so logically.Stowe is an expert tourguide leadingus on an authentic journey of self-inquiry. He doesn't insult ourintelligence by endlessly parroting trendy New-Age affirmations like somuch self-help pablum. Instead he lovingly insists we roll up our sleevesand submerge our arms up to the elbows in our own socially given beliefsand dearly held concepts, then hold up what we discover to the light forscrutiny.After examining ideas about our image, bodies, sex,relationships, and soul, we continue on a tour of sacred gay archetypes.This section feels like strolling through a sublime garden, stopping toadmire and critique the classic statues of the Magic Boy, Sacred Androgyne,Lover, Elder, Shaman/Healer, Warrior, and Explorer. These archetypes arenot unattainable ideals, however: we must learn to identify and reclaimtheir qualities as our own. This is not a book for the passive-minded male-- i.e., someone who wants a book to do his self-inquiry for him. But ifyou seek a book to help you do that tough yet absolutely necessary work,get this toolbox for the gay spirit. Better come prepared to work, though -journal, pen, and psyche in hand - and be transformed. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
Imagine a small town where an all-male university and a Naval station are the only major components of activity in the isolated community. A university where the school's longtime-honored attitude toward homosexual activity is so tolerant it almost constitutes an endorsement of it, and where taking a shower in its vast dormitory is often as much a sexual adventure as it is a cleansing. Where even the vast majority of straight students are driven by their urges and the ready availability of sex to share the wealth of gay experiences their gay and straight schoolmates offer-and most of them find so much satisfaction as a result that they continue them long after they have graduated, moved on, and raised families.

All sailors are horny, and those at the Naval Station are no exception. In the absence of a significant number of females in town-and almost none on base-they eagerly pursue sex with each other and with the equally horny college boys. They find the pursuit is mercifully easy and quickly rewarded, and the results universally gratifying, since so many of the college boys in town are pursuing them.

Many of the men in town (if not most) are looking for sex with sailors and college boys, and achieve great success in finding it, depending on either their attractiveness or their willingness to pay for it. Hunky Marines visit from the Marine Depot a few miles down the coast, coming to town on weekends to gratify their sexual needs as well.
The town is so conducive to providing pleasure to men and boys who are either gay, or who enjoy 'playing with the other team,' that it is properly considered a Utopia.
Welcome to Hus Bay!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not worth the time
This book is simply terrible, the writing is poor, there is no description about the characters, what they see, what they feel. It reads like a newspaper article or some sort of wacky lecture. The voice is very distant from the actions. The author is often patronizing and clinical in his descriptions, which really doesn't make for good erotica.

a long erotic gossip
Have you ever had a chat with an elderly gay male friend talking diffusedly about his long past escapades?
If so you shall have quite an accurate idea of the content of this book.

The storyline -hard to believe but there is one- centres on young Jason's encounters as well as those of his friends. Some are told in detail, some very quickly, to the point of being sketchy, but everyone is graphic.

This novel is not for those who do not wish to read a lot of explicit and crude sex scenes. For those who wish, it is arousing, therefore it achieves the main goal of this genre.

There are some flaws though:
- an erotic novel should not span over a long time: it does not really matter how old the character is at the beginning, but we should not be able to see him growing older; we should not be reminded of our own mortality but this novel does it and has left me wistful and not excited. Jason is 19 at the beginning and fifty at the end: bad bad bad.
- Mr Butler is clearly obsessed with some fetishes and we are presented with each and everyone again and again.
- The ending is very subdued and unsatisfying: the reader of a porn must be allowed to say goodbye to the characters either in the glory of a spectacular orgy or when he finds true love. Realistic endings in this genre are saddening and out of place. ... Read more

Product Description
Get an inside perspective on life as a disabled gay man!

Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories reverberates with the sound of "cripgay" voices rising to be heard above the din of indifference and bias, oppression and ignorance. This unique collection of compelling first-person narratives is at once assertive, bold, and groundbreaking, filled with characters—and character. Through the intimacy of one-on-one storytelling, gay men with mobility and neuromuscular disorders, spinal cord injury, deafness, blindness, and AIDS, fight isolation from society—and each other—to establish a public identity and a common culture.

Queer Crips features more than 30 first-hand accounts from a variety of perspectives, illuminating the reality of the everyday struggle disabled gay men face in a culture obsessed with conformist good looks. Themes include rejection, love, sex, dating rituals, gaycrip married life, and the profound difference between growing up queer and disabled, and suffering a life-altering injury or illness in adulthood. Co-edited by Bob Guter, creator and editor of the webzine BENT: A Journal of Cripgay Voices, the book includes:

two performance pieces from acclaimed author and actor Greg Walloch
poetry from Chris Hewitt, Joel S. Riche, Raymond Luczak, Mark Moody, and co-editor John Killacky
essays from BENT contributors Blaine Waterman, Raymond J. Aguilera, Danny Kodmur, Thomas Metz, Max Verga, and Eli Clare
interviews with community activist Gordon Elkins and Alan Sable, one of the first self-identified gay psychotherapists in the United States
and much more!

Queer Crips is a forum for neglected cripgay voices speaking words that are candid, edgy, bold, dreamy, challenging, and sexy. The book is essential reading for academics and students working in lesbian and gay studies, and disability studies, and for anyone who's ever visited the place where queerness and disability meet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Editors Pose Nude!
If I remember correctly, this anthology won a Lambda nomination and it deserved it.It really helps you to work, or ride, in the paths of disabled gay men.Contributors were born with disabilities and later acquired them.The writers discuss finding lovers, whether they want able-bodied or disabled partners, having sex with disabled bodies, prejudice from gays and straights.I must admit that sometimes contributors seemed self-loathing in wanting to ignore their disabilities or wanting to keep away from other disabled individuals.Still, I admire their courage in opening the eyes of many.

Too often in anthologies covering double minorities, the editors are so quick to get contributions that they'll take works that fail to talk of both identities.Here each contributor speaks of both.No one speaks on disability alone or sexuality alone.Moreover, most articles discuss boyhood; those interested in GBT youth matters may especially take note.

I had too big problems with this book.First, the contributors were overrepresented among middle-class and white writers.Some contributors had Spanish names, but the intersection of race, sexuality, and disability rarely came up.Even the title rings of this homogeneity.If you say "crips," to many the answer would be "the rival gang of bloods," not "a word that disabled people may try to reclaim."Further, the editing made all the voices sound the same.Yes, you hear divergent stories, but sometimes it felt like the same writer could have penned them.

Cole Porter became a paraplegic due to a riding accident.Derek Jarman went blind because of AIDS.Arthur Rimbaud may have lost his leg.There are many gay disabled men and we haven't heard enough from them.I thank these authors for helping to start, or continue, that discussion. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by one of the foremost investigators of human sexuality, this authoritative and thought-provoking study explores the diverse historical, cultural, and physiological influences that determine sexual orientation.Drawing on case studies from his sexology clinic, John Money covers such topics as prenatal and postnatal history, gender differentiation in childhood, and postpubertal hormonal theories, as he addresses what makes children grow up to be homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual.He also discusses his own pioneering concepts of lovemaps, focusing on both the pathways of individual and erotic development and the factors that may shape overall healthy or pathological orientation, paraphilia, and gender transposition in childhood, adolescence, and maturity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

SEXUAL ORIENTATION NOT YET EXPLAINED
John Money
Gay, Straight, and In-Between:
The Sexology of Sexual Orientation

(New York: Oxford UP, 1988) 267 pages

This book brings a truly scientific approach to an area of belief
frequently dominated by partisan and dogmatic theories
held by people who are certain of the 'truth' before the research begins.
Money concludes that the research is still incomplete,
so the question of the origins of homosexuality,
heterosexuality, & bisexuality remains open.
His research concentrates mostly on people
with sexual ambiguity and/or sexual problems.
But understanding these unusual sexual responses
might cast some light on the more common forms of adult sexuality.

This book also deals with the puzzling phenomenon of transsexuals
--people who believe they are the other sex.
Cross-dressing (as a costume for a sex-script
and for other reasons) is also discussed.
No hormonal differences have been discovered
to account for different sex-scripts or sexual fantasies.
More research is needed to uncover the possible relationships among
sex-hormones, male/female self-designation ("I am a boy/girl"),
gender-personality (one's pattern of 'masculinity' or 'femininity'),
& sex-scripts (one's imprinted sexual fantasies).

If you are interested, search the Internet for this bibliography:
"Best Books on Sexual Orientation".

This book is also listed on another Internet bibliography:
"SEXOLOGY---SEX-SCRIPTS---BEST BOOKS".

James Leonard Park, author of
Imprinted Sexual Fantasies:
A New Key for Sexology.

Congested paths regale in the touch at each profound juncture.
John William Money, PhD (1921-2006), New Zealand born psychologist and sexologist, in "Gay, Straight, and In-Between" (1988), investigates sexual orientation, explaining how some find themselves swimming outside of the mainstream.

In the first of this book's four chapters, "Prenatal Hormones and Brain Dimorphism" covers how before birth the neuroendocrine/central nervous systems, endocrine glands and some visceral tissues secrete into the bloodstream chemicals disbursing information to other bodily organs and cells, which, in turn, affect individuals portraying defective characteristics of both sexes after birth.

Second, in "Gender Coding," Money describes what it is collectively hormonal, genetic and social that impacts on one's mind, body and behaviour, causing them in childhood to be--through "identification," behaving like someone else, and "complementation," behaving unlike another person (both applied to G-I/R, gender-identity/role)--totally female, male or androgynous.

Chapter three, "Gender Crosscoding," delves the conflict between one's gender and behaviour, cross-purposed against external genitals, found in, for instance, homophilia, transvestism and transexualism.

Finally, chapter four, "Lovemaps and Paraphilia," the author expounds on mental templates of the brain, which, because of development, represent one's ideal sexual proclivities/partner(s). Some of which are thought of as egregious perversions. However, Money doesn't believe homosexuality, with its lovemap, is a paraphilia (declassified as one in 1973 from the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" of the American Psychiatric Association, and Sigmund Freud, in a 1935 letter to an American mother of a gay son, said homosexuality wasn't an illness, nor could it be changed). Irving Bieber, et al, in "Homosexuality" (1962) said, "Freud's formulation of the etiology of homosexuality postulated a continuum between constitutional and experiential elements." That is, a causation based on what one is physically born with versus what they experience. Money proclaims, "Biology and social input interact at a crucial phase of maturation. It is their interaction that determines the outcome." Further, he states homosexuality is, if anything, understood through the developmental determinism principle, outlining just when the brain becomes heterosexualized, or homosexualized, and to what length, magnitude and permanence.

Such development occurs in stages with several causes. In the prenatal stage, causatively, male sex hormones may masculinize and not defeminize the brain, but a hormonal lack may demasculinize and not feminize, same. During the prenatal/early-newborn phase, preponderant male sex hormones oblivious to female sex hormones, a propensity, but not a predestination, to homosexuality is ratified. From infancy to childhood, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal system that deals with secretion of hormones is quiescent, where the causative agents enter the brain, to varying degrees, through the sense organs, i.e., social conditioning or learning based on experience and familiarity, called "apperceptive assimilation." Identification with an "exemplar" or model representing one's own sex, and complementation with same of the opposite sex, brings about heterosexuality. When there is discordance, instigated by amerced prepubertal, boy-girl sexual rehearsal play, homosexuality might ensue. The author says the "Exigency theory," that describes requirements intrinsic to one's human existence, by bonding(s), being sustained, typecast and destined by fate, through using/restraining/unfolding mechanisms, unites all sexological theories here.

At the conclusion of this work is a handy, forty-five page glossary, followed by an appendix, exploring treatments for sex offenders. "Gay, Straight, and In-Between" by John Money is well worth reading to discover what makes one tick sexually, where congested paths regale in the touch at each profound junture.

Don't waste your time
This book is just another example of John Money making up stuff to earn a dollar.He is a known fraud and people should not be naive enough to take him seriously.In the past he has made up data and published false research to support his claims.He is a poor excuse for a scientist and nobody should buy his work

The best single book for the befuddled and/or fearful
Looking for a book to suggest to a family that has been having trouble understanding, and continuing to love, a gay family member, I had a quick look-around for published materials. I was especially hopeful that there might be an appropriate title by Dr. Milton Diamond, but no such luck. I'll have to hope they'll view his website.That left me with two books that I would very strongly recommend: John Money's Gay, Straight, and In-Between, and Anne Fausto-Sterling's Sexing the Body.Money's book is a straightforward description of how a serious and responsible researcher has come to understand homosexuality over the course of decades of research, but Fausto-Sterling's is a more "nuanced" account of the formation of human sexualities that ruthlessly but with good humor attacks easy assumptions and over-generalizations.

Money objectively synthesizes the work done during his lifetime by numerous researchers in the field of human sexuality. He gives the reader a clear way to understand that the sexual identity of a person, what the person is and is motivated to do as a sexual being, begins with the individual's genetic constitution (which is in all cases almost entirely identical to other human beings), is influenced by the complex hormonal and nutritional environment in the womb during gestation, and then is further molded by nurture and learning -- with early events, generally speaking, being more influential than later events.

Criticisms of Money in the Colapinto book refer to events that occurred early in Money's career, and to an understanding that has been revised and reshaped over the years and the dozen or so books that Money has written to the point that it does Money an injustice to condemn his recent book on that account. More importantly, perhaps, it may turn readers away from a book that describes the "state of the art" at the time it was written. Anyone who wants to study this field must go over these same findings, must "re-search" them, to discover whether further refinements are needed. So, whether you end up agreeing with Money on individual points or not, his book gives in relatively short compass a survey of what is currently regarded as knowledge in this field.

This man's work lacks any scientific merit--it's all opinion
Please read of this man's (...) in the work of John Colapinto cited above--As Nature Made Him (it is the story of an identical twin whose circumcision was botched, and
Money recommended that he be raised as a girl--this Money "guineau pig" committed suicide last week--age 38, but not before he had many, many negative words for the misguided "work" of Money).Colapinto is his exclusive biographer.
The fact that Money's name remains prominently on the syllabus of many women's study courses is a considerable shame to both fields of psychology and women's studies.
Recommended reading of real scholarship in the area of biological and social determination pertaining to sexual and homosexual behavior:Mean Genes by Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan ... Read more