wellington299's review against another edition
3.0
The cover of the book caught my attention. Who has the guts to give a title of a book like that?
I burned through the book in one evening. If one looks hard enough at history ... looking hard for homosexual influence, you will find homosexual influence. In the middle of the book, she made a great leap in pronouncing homosexual influence when a confirmed heterosexual does a homosexual activity. Homosexual activity seemed to be defined (over) broadly as anything artistic ....
Quaint book but nothing really special.
I burned through the book in one evening. If one looks hard enough at history ... looking hard for homosexual influence, you will find homosexual influence. In the middle of the book, she made a great leap in pronouncing homosexual influence when a confirmed heterosexual does a homosexual activity. Homosexual activity seemed to be defined (over) broadly as anything artistic ....
Quaint book but nothing really special.
amartinios's review
4.0
At first I was rather apprehensive about this book, and started out being very critical about it. In some ways I still am, as I still refute the assertions about a homosexual lifestyle. However, I did realise that the book is really more about things that are "gay" and "queer", in a way that is different from biological homosexuality, although often associated with biologically homosexual people. It's a book that makes you think about the profound influence that *some* (emphasis is mine) gay men have had on American - and through that on Western culture, ultimately. But the book is way too generalising sometimes and makes it seem as if *all* biologically homosexual men have such influence upon culture, and no biologically straight people. I was doubting between giving this book a 3 or 4-star rating, but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.
aje9065a's review
3.0
1/7, about fifty pages in. Not terribly convinced of its accuracy, but this book makes an excellent pick-me-up. Particularly for any queer who feels slighted, that we've been pushed to the edges of society, forced into hiding. No real effect, always forced to act within straight norms.
1/29, done.
In response to the adage "Ginger Rodgers did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in high heels," Crimmins responds that "Homosexuals did everything with great style and panache, and they did a lot of it in tiny closets with no lights, and sometimes while fearing for their lives." (213)
That basically sums up the tone of this book. Society was influenced by gay men who were nothing but fabulous even while facing severs disadvantages.
It is nice to point out gay influence--that designer, that artist, that author. It's a kind of backhanded respect, the acknowledgment that the majority likes us (and our work) much more than they think they do. It's nice to think these things when you're feeling alone and filled with an overwhelming sense that nothing you do could possibly matter.
That being said, this book makes incredibly broad statements while having a narrow focus. The volume isn't about 'homosexuals', it's about a specific type of gay man. To really enjoy this book, you have to excuse that.
1/29, done.
In response to the adage "Ginger Rodgers did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in high heels," Crimmins responds that "Homosexuals did everything with great style and panache, and they did a lot of it in tiny closets with no lights, and sometimes while fearing for their lives." (213)
That basically sums up the tone of this book. Society was influenced by gay men who were nothing but fabulous even while facing severs disadvantages.
It is nice to point out gay influence--that designer, that artist, that author. It's a kind of backhanded respect, the acknowledgment that the majority likes us (and our work) much more than they think they do. It's nice to think these things when you're feeling alone and filled with an overwhelming sense that nothing you do could possibly matter.
That being said, this book makes incredibly broad statements while having a narrow focus. The volume isn't about 'homosexuals', it's about a specific type of gay man. To really enjoy this book, you have to excuse that.
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