Amazon.com: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up: Ted Gideonse, Robert Williams: Books

Product Description

More than an anthology of coming out stories, From Boys to Men is a stunning collection of essays about what it is like to be gay and young, to be different and be aware of that difference from the earliest of ages. In these memoirs, coming out is less important than coming of age and coming to the realization that young gay people experience the world in ways quite unlike straight boys. Whether it is a fascination with soap opera, an intense sensitivity to their own difference, or an obsession with a certain part of the male anatomy, gay kids — or kids who would eventually identify as gay — have an indefinable but unmistakable gay sensibility. Sometimes the result is funny, sometimes it is harrowing, and often it is deeply moving. Essays by lauded young writers like Alex Chee (Edinburgh), Aaron Hamburger (Faith for Beginners), Karl Soehnlein (The World of Normal Boys), Trebor Healy (Through It Came Bright Colors), Tom Dolby (The Trouble Boy), David Bahr, and Austin Bunn, are collected along with those by brilliant, newcomers such as Michael McAllister, Jason Tougaw, Viet Dinh, and the wildly popular blogger, Joe.My.God.

About the Author

Ted Gideonse, is a film critic for Maisonneuve and has written for Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Salon.com, The Advocate, and Out. Rob Williams teaches English in San Diego, and his writing has appeared in M2M: New Literary Fiction, Fresh Men, I Do/I Don’t, The Gay and Lesbian Times, and Maisonneuve.

Product Details

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (September 3, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786716320
ISBN-13: 978-0786716326
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #492,579 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in this category: (What's this?)
#50 in Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Men

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
industrial music

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Louie Mae, Sue Ellen, Derek Snyder, New York, Buffalo Butt, Glamour Boys, Justin Leduc, Cedar Falls, Josh Levine, New Jersey, Wax Trax, Depeche Mode, Idaho City, Mary Lyn, Skinny Puppy, Terrence Hunter, Wayne City, Girl Talk, Karl Soehnel, Nampa Christian, Richard Marx, Throbbing Gristle, Ann Arbor, Bell Pepper, Catalina French

New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats

Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

Citations (learn more)

This book cites 18 books:

Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein on page 259
Faith for Beginners: A Novel by Aaron Hamburger in Back Matter
Through It Came Bright Colors by Trebor Healey in Back Matter
Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (Inside Popular Film) by Harry M. Benshoff on page 244
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Oprah's Book Club) by Carson McCullers on page 84

See all 18 books this book cites

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

All Music Guide by Bogdanov V

Discusses:

Alternative Rock by Dave Thompson

Discusses:

The Other Side of Silence by John Loughery

Discusses:

All Music Guide to Electronica by Vladimir Bogdanov

Discusses:

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	81% buy the item featured on this page: From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up 4.5 out of 5 stars (6) $13.56
	11% buy Boys Like Us 5.0 out of 5 stars (5) $13.56
	8% buy The Man I Might Become: Gay Men Write About Their Fathers 5.0 out of 5 stars (7) $16.61

Explore similar items

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

coming of age(3)

memoir(2)

gay(1)

gay men(1)

kindle me please(1)

Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search

No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

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

Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Things Never Change, September 6, 2006

By	H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This for-the-most-part very fine collection of 21 essays by gay men writing about growing up (there are two or three selections I would have omitted) reminded me of how much alike we all are and that their experiences and mine, even though we are separated by a generation, are essentially pretty much the same: wanting to be accepted by others, both at home and at school, the crushes on male straight friends, the trauma of playing center field, the fear of taking communal showers, being labeled sensitive or different and the feelings of utter aloneness. There was not so much the name calling then ("fag" and "faggot"), however; our differentness was just not talked about. Or as Lily Tomlin says so aptly in one of her monologues, in the 60's nobody was gay; we were just shy.

The editors include writers, some of them established, many of them publishing for the first time, with fascinating backgrounds: one writer whose parents tell him they are both gay ("Sleeping Eros" by Michael McAllister), another whose twin is also gay ("Competitive Lives of Gay Twins" by Michael Gardner), and finally one writer whose family lived in a converted school bus ("Aplysia californica" by Jason Tougaw).

The best essays in alphabetical order by author are "No Matter What Happens" (David Bahr), "Dick" (Alexander Chee), "Terrence" (Joe Jervis), and "Mom-Voice" by Vestal McIntyre. Chee writes with humor of his obsession from the age of eight with the male body and sex organ, both McIntyre and Bahr's essays are extremely moving accounts of a gay child's relationship with his mother, as is "Terrence," for that matter. Many of us have had a Terrence in our lives. Mine was "Daevid with and E." He wore expensive women's long mink coats, diamond ear studs; and when I drove him to the hospital on what would be his final visit, he wore a black lace baseball cap to complete his ensemble. Reading "Terrence" reminded me of how much I miss Daevid's humor, wit, courage and, most of all, his honesty. That essay alone is worth the price of the book.

Finally a word about "Inheritance" by Lee Houck. I cannot be objective about this essay as I have known his parents for over thirty years and Lee his entire life as well as most of the other people he writes about. Like a parent who looks up his child first in his school yearbook, I of course read this essay first-- and again-- and then a third time. This extremely well-written essay about Lee's alcoholic grandfather who apparently figured out early on that his grandson was different blew me away.

FROM BOYS TO MEN is a valuable addition to the writings of the gay experience.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Boy I Was, The Man I Became, March 2, 2007

By	Terrance H. Heath "terrancedc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Thomas, David, Sean, Marc, Dexter, Johnny, Alex, Brian. I can remember their names and recite them like a roll call of saints and demons; the boys who, largely unbeknownst to them, drew me out of myself and let me to myself all at once in those years between the kindergarten-era dawning of my nascent queerdom to the high-noon of becoming a full fledged 'mo. Some teased, some taunted, and some were tender. But we never, ever touched.

I thought I'd nearly forgotten them, but they're still with me. This book, with its highly readable essays, brought them back to me. But more than that, with every essay it brought back to me parts of the the boy that I was, introduced him to the man became, and let us finally finally embrace each other. Back then he wanted to know that everything would be turn out alright, like the boys in this book. Now I can assure him that it did.

The the rare book that can take you back to a time that wasn't necessarily a happy one when you lived through it, and not only make you want to go there but also make you want to linger. This is one of those rare books.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, November 24, 2007

By	Java (Greenwood, SC USA) - See all my reviews

This is a terrific book. Each story is different, but there is unity in how the men experienced childhood from a distinctively gay perspective.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 6 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Growing Up and Coming Out
Gideonse, Ted and Robert Williams, editors.
"From Boys to Men", Da Capo Press, 2006.

Growing Up and Coming Out

Amos Lassen

Being gay... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Amos Lassen

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it
The authors included in here will astound. Very well conceived and produced. Each story is just short enough to keep you reading until you've realized the book is over. Read more

Published on June 1, 2007 by Thomas Houser

5.0 out of 5 stars An astounding read...
Each and every story captivates you with it's little quirks that you may or may not be able to relate to. Read more

Published on May 6, 2007 by Tony Tsang

› See all 6 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; }

Customer Discussions

Beta (What's this?)

New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.

This product's forum (0 discussions)

	Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
	No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight

Start a new discussion

Topic:

First post:

Receive e-mail when new posts are made

Prompts for sign-in

[Cancel]

Guidelines

Active discussions in related forums

Discussion	Replies	Latest Post
gay and lesbian Any more 'Fingersmith's' out there?	18	3 hours ago
gay and lesbian Have You Written a Gay Themed Book-Come Tell Us About It	497	9 hours ago
memoir Have You Written a Memoir - Come Tell Us About It.	695	13 hours ago
memoir drug memoirs	26	1 day ago
gay romance Recommendation please: Gay Romance with a little less sex	24	5 days ago
gay romance reader survey: how much sex?	7	5 days ago
coming of age What sort of age should people come of?	6	9 days ago