(P/B) HOMOCONS

Παρουσίαση

This book is written for two kinds of reader: straight people who know little about the queer community, and gay people who know even less about the progressive tradition. I hope other people will read this book as well, especially heterosexuals willing to acknowledge their anxieties about homosexuality. The full exploration of such feelings is a crucial step in gay liberation. But my main aim is to reach those who aren't aware of the rich connections between radical thought and queer sensibility.
In fact, the gay community is one of the left's great success stories, but little attention has been paid to that, or to the impact of queer thinking on progressive history. It's no surprise, in an era when anything unmarketable is ignored, that this connection should be absent from the repertoire of gay visibility. Nor is it surprising that populist myths of the people's march often omit the gay and lesbian contingent. But it seems all the more important to reclaim this connection now that it is threatened by the rise of a very different tendency. [...] (From the publisher)

"[Goldstein] has packed a great deal of sound argument, sharp wit, and heartfelt idealism into a concise, very readable book." (Los Angeles Times)

"[Homocons] is a brilliant and much-needed call for a revival of radical queer humanism ..." (Gay Times)

"... brilliant -and brilliantly written- polemic against the rising tide of heartless gay conservatism and its 'liberal' straight allies. ...a much-needed call to arms for progressives of all stripes to rally before it's too late." (Martin Duberman, author of Stonewall)

"Besides its sheer cogency, the most notable thing about [Homocons] is, surprisingly, the generous patience with which it anatomizes the gay right. Far beyond the hackneyed invocation of 'internalized homophobia,' Goldstein embarks on an incisive navigation of the historical, racial, and psychological dynamics between queers and mainstream American political discourse." (Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, author of Epistemology of the Closet)

"Whether you think you will agree with the main argument or not, you will learn from this book. Richard Goldstein writes with shrewd insight, wide sympathies, and enviable clarity. No one has a more persuasive assessment of the urgencies of the present and the legacies of the past for queer people. I wish everyone I know -gay, straight, or whatever- would read it." (Michael Warner, author of the Trouble with Normal and editor of Fear of a Queer Planet)

Περιεχόμενα

Author's note
Foreword and acknowledgments
1. The liberal embrace
2. The homosexual gentleman
3. Virtually macho
4. Fighting the gay right
Afterword