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

by Neil Miller

Represents the author's nationwide survey of gay America--a sampling including an openly gay mayor in Missouri, a Latin lesbian community in San Antonio and a black gay church in Washington, D.C.

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, History, Gay, Lesbian, Queer

319 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1990

Reviews

[Princessa Bookworm]

Let me be clear: I found this to be incredibly dense, repetitive, and at times genuinely painful to get through.

That being said, I’m bravely giving it three stars because I suppose it feels like something that I’m glad to have read. I’ve never really delved much into gay history, and it was interesting to read about some of these experiences. I certainly don’t agree with a lot of the takes presented, but I appreciated the wide variety of backgrounds and experiences that were explored.

In the end, I’m genuinely ecstatic to be done with this. I didn’t know if it would ever happen. But I stood strong, I persevered, and I proved the doubters wrong—because that’s what gay people do.

[Larry]

Although Miller gets the date wrong (by a full year) for the anti-gay harassment of the dance in Wolverton, Minnesota in 1983, this is still a valuable and well-written picture of gay and lesbian lives in the late 1980s, particularly of people's lives away from the coasts.

[Josh]

An informative and touching time capsule of gay and lesbian life across America in the late 1980s. The author Neil Miller makes a valiant attempt as a white, likely middle-class man to track down gay and lesbian communities of color and working-class folks with varying degrees of success. Happy to have it on my shelf as a reminder of how much things have changed and how much may never completely change, particularly for those of us living in rural and Southern communities.

[Genie McFate]

Written after the advent of AIDs but well before a majority of the population accepted gays in everyday life.

[Marks House]

2 copies

[jadey]

i read this quite a while ago but i’ve found myself thinking about it recently. so awesome to read about how varied the queer experience is.