Early
Praise:
From
the Los Angeles Times Book Review:
"The
writing is so lush, so present, so alive with
a kind of pure faith...."
From
Publisher's Weekly:
"...much
to think about and to feel, including perhaps
regret that he hasn't done more of the journalistic
writing that, at its best, highlights his powers
of observation."
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When
John Rechy broke out in 1963 as the bestselling
author of City of Night, his novel about the underworld
of gay male prostitution, he became a source for
provocative commentary on sex, homosexuality,
and culturally transgressive literature for publications
as varied as the New York Times, The Nation, the
Advocate, and Forum.
Beneath
the Skin collects more than four decades of the
author's outspoken essays-many never before reprinted
and almost none ever appearing previously in book
form. Rechy holds forth on topics ranging from
the birth of the sexual liberation movement, the
rise of Anita Bryant, and the emergence of AIDS
to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and last
year's repeal of sodomy laws.
Beneath
the Skin also includes pieces on gay and lesbian
authors such as Gore Vidal, Jack Kerouac, Christopher
Isherwood, Carson McCullers, and Elizabeth Bowen,
and non-gay figures like Philip Roth, William
T. Vollman, and Joyce Carol Oates, as well as
essays on Madonna, Tom Cruise, Eminem, Liberace,
Marilyn Monroe, and the gay silent film star Ramon
Novarro. |