How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization [Hardcover]

Cathy Crimmins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2004

A shrewd and irreverent cultural history of the customs, fashions, and figures of gay life in the twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries- and how they have changed all of us for the better.

The "global queering" of America has been gradually shaping the way straight people talk, think, dress, and eat. Over the past fifty years, the line between what is "straight" and what is "gay" has blurred to the point that most heterosexuals are unaware of the vast contributions gay men have made to American culture.

How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization presents a broad yet incisive look at how an unusual "immigrant" group, homosexual men, have become so influential on mainstream American culture.

The general public's tastes and consumer choices in food, fashion, humor, literature, and body image are becoming decidedly more gay. And America has shown a real interest in TV shows with gay content and themes, such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Will & Grace; and Six Feet Under. Overall, it's hip to be gay, even if you're straight.

How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization tells us something about ourselves as a society. It celebrates the unique perspective of gay men and explains how essential their vitality has been to our civilization.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this "work of love from a fag-hag author," humor writer Crimmins (Where Is the Mango Princess? etc.) considers gay men's multifarious contributions to society and celebrates the "golden age of 'Global Queering.' " (Lesbians, she finds, have been too domestic to influence much.) In 10 brief chapters, she reflects on the culture of camp, the popularity of "gay expressions" ("butch," "breeder"), gay restaurants (they have "exotic ingredients and flamboyant presentations"), fashion designers, sex practices, Judy Garland musicals and 1960s game shows (with gay pioneers like Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly) and more. As Crimmins has it, gay men are responsible for the popularity of barbecue (James Beard, who was gay, popularized outdoor grilling) and Abercrombie & Fitch (fraternity boys sporting that brand are aping a gay lifestyle—without knowing it—by buying into photographer Bruce Weber's vision of male beauty). Friends, Frasier and Sex and the City had gay roots and gay writers, she says, and flaunted a code of gay allusion. Few would argue with the thesis that gay men have had a profound and positive cultural impact, but this volume may not be anyone's chosen proof. Crimmins's casual use of words like "fairy," "faggot," "homo" and "nelly" may prove a stumbling block to her readers, as might her persistent stereotyping.
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About the Author

Cathy Crimmins, bestselling coauthor of Newt Gingrich's Bedtime Stories for Orphans and The Gay Man's Guide to Heterosexuality, is one of the most savvy observers of pop culture writing today. Her previous book, Where Is the Mango Princess?, received the Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and is being made into a TNT movie featuring Julianna Margulies and Alfred Molina.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585423149
• ISBN-13: 978-1585423149
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,514,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars fluff, March 28, 2006

By 

Jerrel E. Towery (Venice, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization (Hardcover)

Ok...I will be the bad guy about this book. Fluff is the word that comes to mind. Shallow stereotpypical fluff. I have to admit to having fun reading it, but am embarrassed to say so. (I also admit to eating fast food but that is not something that I am proud of either.) It strikes me as the book one would expect a straight woman to write about gay culture. It just strikes me as obviously coming from the pen of someone who is not gay but who is trying overly hard to identify and be the best buddy of someone who is gay.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Breezy and flawed view on American gay men and their influence, September 7, 2009

By 

Christopher Krakora (West Chester, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization (Hardcover)

I have to agree with some of the earlier reviews that this book is on the fluffy side, that's is the literary equivulent of E! or Bravo TV. Basicly Crimmins talks about how much gays have influnced American cultural life. She does roll out the stereotypes; they are postivie ones for sure, but they're still stereotypes. The book is written breezily and you can read through it very quickly.

Crimmins says with the growing (and more explicitly stated) influence that gays have on American life and pop culture, more straight people will comsume those products, which will in turn make straight people more aware of gay issues and more open to gay rights. Actually it doesn't always work that way. One can consume gay-influenced culture and still be biased towards heterosexism; take for example the recent case of Miss Califonia, who obviously let a queen or two do her hair, makeup, and outfit, and yet she speaks out against gay marriage. Another example is Camille Paglia (okay a lesbian herslf, but still...), who credits gay men with creating culture and yet she dismisses them when they talk about politics, gay rights in particular. And then there's Nancy Reagan, who had a gaggle of gays to style her, and yet her husband president Ronald Reagan let AIDS spread unchecked because it was seen as a "gay" disease. Crimmins herself occasionally reveals the reality on how much can gay culture can (or cannot) influence straights to be more gay-positive; she writes about young men wearing Abercrombie & Fitch, which is shaped by a gay aesthetic, yet those same teenage guys were not afraid to use the word "gay" as a put-down. She also refers to Harvey Fierstein, who played in drag Mrs. Claus in the New York City Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2003, and then wrote an op-ed in The New York Times saying that Mrs. Claus was part of a same-sex marriage. Controversy ensued and Macy's felt the need to spin this by stressing that Mrs. Claus was not really being played by a gay man, but rather by Harvey's female character, Edna Turnblad, the star of the Broadway show "Hairspray" with enough twisting to make any pretzel maker happy. But in the end Crimmins is more interested in writing about the "fabulousity" of gay men rather than the struggles and discrimination that they face.

In the end I'd say that this book has some value if you need some "Gay 101." Otherwise it's fluff with occasionally condesending (if postive) sterotypes that makes some good toilet seat reading anyway.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Yikes.., June 13, 2008

By 

B. Baumer - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization (Hardcover)

Ugh... i picked up this book (along with some others) as a gift for my Dad (who I recently came out to) for father's day. I thought it would be a great gesture to show that I'm letting him into that part of my life.

Good thing I read it first- I don't need to give my dad this book if I'm the one who is skeptical about most of what she has to say. Not to mention- this isn't about how Homosexuals saved civilization- it's about how Homosexuals created and fascinated America with a lot of the terrible celebrity worship and popculture phenomenon that destroy the value of mainstream media.

She should re-title this book immediately. Something like "Gay people are super super fun novelties."