In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change [Hardcover]

Neil Miller (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This informative, surprisingly entertaining overview of gay life in the U.S. puts to rest the stereotype that homosexual communities thrive only in large cities. In coast-to-coast travels, Miller, former editor of Boston's Gay Community News , met vast numbers of gays and lesbians in a variety of geographic, ethnic, social and cultural settings. The author unexpectedly found that aside from some intolerant communities, small towns accept gays and lesbians--gay farmer couples, for example, or a lesbian miner--in community projects and politics. One Missouri village even elected a gay mayor. Miller also discusses the impact of AIDS on individual life patterns and the strengthening and politicization of the gay community brought about by the affliction. In a book with much to say to a general audience, readers will enjoy as well this gifted writer's evocation of small-town life and colorfully apt personality sketches. 35,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Traveling to both large and small cities, Miller sought out the status of individual gay men and lesbians, and the meaning their lives have to the larger gay movement. Like Howard Brown's Familiar Faces, Hidden Lives (LJ 10/15/76) and Edmund White's States of Desire (LJ 2/15/80), his book puts a human face on a group some still consider second-class citizens. Miller finds a wide diversity and a beginning assimilation of openly gay people into mainstream society: the mayor of a small town in Missouri, an elder in a Presbyterian church in Kentucky, lesbian couples who have become mothers, etc. The presence of AIDS overshadows many of the stories, but also is a cohesive, unifying force between gay man and lesbians. Miller enters his own reporting, but not obtrusively, allowing the integrity of the individuals to come through. Recommended.
- James E. Cook, Dayton & Montgomery Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 309 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr; 1st edition (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871133040
• ISBN-13: 978-0871133045
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,910,714 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neil Miller teaches journalism at Tufts University and is the award-winning author of five nonfiction books. His most recent work, Kartchner Caverns, won the 2009 Arizona Book Award.

Photo by Paul Brouillette

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great!, August 27, 2007

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change (Hardcover)

This was one of the first gay books I read, as a closeted teenager. I thought it was great. The author traveled the country speaking to gay men and lesbians. The interviewees were racially diverse too. In retrospect, this book may be in striking contrast to Edmund White's book where his informants were, supposedly, just the guys with whom he hooked up. You can also tell how this book was a stepping stone for Miller's next book where he spoke to gay men and lesbians in foreign countries. This book speaks of the 1980s and may seem dated now. However, then it was fresh and innovative. I think readers won't regret finding a copy and reading it from cover to cover.