States of Desire: Travels in Gay America

by Edmund White

Paperback, 1991

Status

Available

Call number

HQ76.U5 W45

Collection

Publication

Plume (1991), 352 pages

Description

This volume gives a city by city description of the way homosexual men lived in the late 1970s. The author weaves a vivid tapestry of people and places as he presents the pros and cons of such issues as gay radicalism, the "urban gay renaissance" and the much discussed gay penchant for hedonism and sexual extremism. Above all, he shows the remarkable possibilities for the gay lifestyle. The author tells what goes on behind the glittering surface of fashionable nightspots and glamorous resorts. But he also shows us gay engineers, gay computer experts, and gay cowboys; this is a look at a vast world never before documented. By introducing the reader to a wide variety of gay people, this book provides new insights into what it means to be gay in America.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member dbsovereign
A travel book that captures the pre-condom, pre-plague days like no other. Shows us the many venues that truly were where it was at back then. Also profoundly moving as it brings back memories of an era that I grew up in and will always miss (along with many of the friends that I lost from those
Show More
days too).
Show Less

Original language

English

Original publication date

1980

Physical description

352 p.; 7 inches

ISBN

0452266890 / 9780452266896

Other editions

Similar in this library

Page: 0.3883 seconds