Customer Reviews

The Bear Book : Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A book of essays with a nice blend of philosophical wondering, sociological research, and amusing anectdotes. A good description of the anti-stereotypical gay male. I enjoyed most of the book except the essays that went into deep psychological jargon. They seemed out of place in a book dealing with down to earth men.

While it's commendable that someone would try to write a book that attempts to examine the history of the bear "movement" and try to figure out what it's all about, this book is simply terrible. The "research" is not even of high school quality; for example, the article that attempts to show that bears sprung up in the United States first by tracking the dates that the Resources for Bears page was first accessed in each country -- totally laughable and unacceptable to any serious social scientist.

The portions on the history of bears are mostly San Francisco scene name-dropping, and there's no serious attempt to examine the origin of the bear "movement" by taking a look at its roots in the leather community or in Girth and Mirth. Instead, we're told that bears came about because HIV-positive San Francisco men looked at extra weight as a sign of health in the mid-to-late eighties. No proof, just assertions.

Do yourself a favour and skip this book. You can spend your money better elsewhere.

For those interested in gay history and subculture, this is an invaluable book. This book provides a thorough reading of the anti-stereotypical gay male, but sometimes borders on over-analyzation..

Good book for those in cultural studies, or someone curious about this subculture.

While this book is heavy on history, it also reads like a college textbook into the history, culture, health and psychological aspect of the gay men who identify as "bears".

Some of the chapters dragged, especially the ones dealing with the early 90's and the chat rooms and drama...but the ones that touched me were the personal coming out stories, and the men coming to terms with their bodies and attitudes in conservative America. Definatly a book that will stay on my shelf for many years to come.

I myself am classified as a cub. I found this to be a very interesting and informative book on how the culture was thought to begin and why it also gave a good insite into the thought's behind it and other people i have let borrow this book have said that they like theway it was set out but there weren't enough personal experiances to make it more involving. I felt that the book was biased to the downfall of all bear clubs in australia exept the one in Brisbane. All in all a good read and informative on a historical sense. It is good to see an alternative to the usual boring historical books out there.

Sure it gives you history and such, but it tends to be a dry read. If you need a "deeper understanding" of what you like and why, read it. If you are satisfied knowing what you like, then spend your money some place else.

the bear book. This book has provided info into the bear world, futhermore bears are different from the gay culture the image that bears have are hairy bearded and usually heavy in my thoughts. i think of a bear as a hairy heavy bearded man!! very natural and very simple too. The straight culture accepts bears as a burly type men who dont think as gay..

Oh, more of the pseudo-intellectual self serving nonsense from Les Wright. Save your money and spend it on a good razor and some shaving cream. Grow up Les!