Synopses & Reviews
Celluloid Activist is the biography of gay-rights giant Vito Russo, the man who wrote
The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, commonly regarded as the foundational text of gay and lesbian film studies and one of the first to be widely read.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; But Russo was much more than a pioneering journalist and author. A founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Russo lived at the center of the most important gay cultural turning points in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. His life as a cultural Zelig intersects a crucial period of social change, and in some ways his story becomes the story of a developing gay revolution in America. A frequent participant at andldquo;zapsandrdquo; and an organizer of Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) cabarets and dancesandmdash;which gave the New York gay and lesbian community its first social alternative to Mafia-owned barsandmdash;Russo made his most enduring contribution to the GAA with his marshaling of andldquo;Movie Nights,andrdquo; the forerunners to his worldwide Celluloid Closet lecture tours that gave gay audiences their first community forum for the dissection of gay imagery in mainstream film.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Biographer Michael Schiavi unravels Vito Russoandrsquo;s fascinating life story, from his childhood in East Harlem to his own heartbreaking experiences with HIV/AIDS. Drawing on archival materials, unpublished letters and journals, and more than two hundred interviews, including conversations with a range of Russoandrsquo;s friends and family from brother Charlie Russo to comedian Lily Tomlin to pioneering activist and playwright Larry Kramer,
Celluloid Activistprovides an unprecedented portrait of a man who defined gay-rights and AIDS activism.
Best Special Interest Books, selected by the American Association of School Librarians
Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Reviewers
Finalist, Gay Memoir/Biography, Lambda Literary Awards
Finalist, Over the Rainbow Selection, American Library Association
and#160;and#160;andldquo;Schiavi is thorough and compelling both in bringing this complex character to life and in delineating the people and events that shaped him. Highly Recommended.andrdquo;andmdash;CHOICE
andldquo;Schiavi tells a compelling story in this biographyandmdash;from his re-creation of life on the streets of East Harlem and in Greenwich Village of the 1960s and 1970s to the way he conveys Russoandrsquo;s excitement about his film research and popular education to his account of the AIDS years in New York City.andrdquo;andmdash;John Dandrsquo;Emilio, Italian American Reviewand#160;and#160;
Review
"Betty Berzon is a treasure to the gay civil rights movement, a pioneering therapist who has shown many the way in battling homophobia. Now, in Surviving Madness, we get a rich account of the fascinating journey of her own life, the remarkable people and places that punctuated it, and the war that raged inside her head within a culture that has often demonized homosexuality. It is an enthralling, instructive, and ultimately uplifting story."Michelangelo Signorile, author of Queer in America and Life Outside -- Techni - cal Communication
Review
andldquo;My dear friend, Vito Russo, was a darling and a daring man;and#160;more importantly, he was a giant in the fields of gay and AIDS activism. and#160;Inand#160;Celluloid Activist, Michael Schiavi recounts Vito's full life,and#160;startingand#160;with a New York childhood that Martin Scorsese might have written, through Vitoandrsquo;s penning of the indispensableand#160;Celluloid Closet, the first major study of gays and lesbians in film, and finallyand#160;through Vitoandrsquo;s tireless work as an AIDS activist. and#160;All this, plus a look at Vito up a tree (literally) at the Stonewall Riots! and#160;Celluloid Activistand#160;is a long-overdue examination of a man who helped put gay rights on the map. and#160;In the words of Edith Ann, one of Vito's other good buddies, andlsquo;And that's the truth-h-h-h!andrsquo;andrdquo;andmdash;Lily Tomlin
Review
andldquo;This important book brings both an era and its sensibilities to life by engagingly telling the story of a major gay civil rights activist. Russoandrsquo;s contribution to the movement for gay equality through practically inventing the field of LGBT film history is enormous. Readers will find themselves inspired by Russoandrsquo;s unflagging courage, passion, and downright tenacity.andrdquo;andmdash;David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution
Review
andldquo;A dynamic, emotional, and fascinating look at the life of the spellbinding gay activist Vito Russo.andrdquo;andmdash;Craig Zadan, producer of Chicago and Hairspray
Review
andldquo;Schiavi demonstrates a knack for digging deep into his subject matter. His immersion into the heart, soul, and benevolent machinations of Russoandrsquo;s perseverant fight for homosexual justice is beautifully on display in this comprehensive biography and illuminating time capsule that will hopefully garner Vito Russo a more visible place in the gay rights movement.andrdquo;andmdash;Bay Area Reporter
Review
andldquo;In Celluloid Activist, Vito Russo has the biography he deserves, one that matches his energy level.andrdquo;andmdash;South Florida Gay News
Review
andldquo;Celluloid Activist realigns Russoandrsquo;s legacy, positioning his politics and film scholarship on twin pedestals. It is nothing if not thorough; Schiavi conducted almost 200 interviews. Celluloid Activist has so many direct quotes from Russo, his friends and family that it reads like a memoir. Itandrsquo;s leavened with details both novelistic and cinematic, and could make a compelling film. You can almost hear Vito casting his own biopic, giggling as he ponders which movie star hunk should play the funny-serious little boy from East Harlem.andrdquo;andmdash;San Francisco Chronicle
Review
andldquo;Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo, Michael Schiaviandrsquo;s new biography of the noted LGBT activist and film historian, is an important addition to queer and film scholarship. It is also one of the most complex and compelling historical narratives of gay male life and culture in the later decades of the twentieth century. . . . Schiavi beautifully maps out Russoandrsquo;s growth as a political gay manandmdash;a path that was neither as obvious or clear-cut as it mat at first appearandmdash;and the book seamlessly demonstrates how the growth of gay male culture during this time was inextricably intertwined with the emergence of series of overlapping, sometimes conflicting, LGBT political movements.andrdquo;andmdash;Michael Bronski, Cineaste
Synopsis
Where has the personal diary goneand what forms has it takenin the digital age? From the diary spaces of reality television and the how-to diary and its audience of self-helpers, in the emerging genre of the graphic diary or the online diaries of sex bloggers, in the published diaries of war correspondents or the urgent personal writing of Arab women under conflict, this book explores a new wave in diary publication and production. It also provides a fresh look at the diary as a contemporary form of autobiography.
In Dear World, Kylie Cardell is sensitive to how changes to our notions of privacy and the personalspurred by the central presence the Internet has come to occupy in our daily livesimpact how and why diaries are written, and for whom. She considers what these new uses of the diary tell us about the cultural politics of self-representation in a time of mass attention to (and anxiety about) the personal. Cardell sees the twenty-first-century diary as a vibrant and popular cultural practice as much as a literary form, one that plays a key role in mass-mediated notions of authenticity, subjectivity, and truth. Dear World provides much-needed new attention to the innovation, evolution, and persistence of a familiar yet complex autobiographical mode.
"
Synopsis
Hailed for his humor and passion, the internationally acclaimed performance artist Tim Miller has delighted, shocked, and emboldened audiences all over the world.
Body Blows gathers six of Millers best-known performances that chart the sexual, spiritual, and political topography of his identity as a gay man: Some Golden States, Stretch Marks, My Queer Body, Naked Breath, Fruit Cocktail, and Glory Box. In
Body Blows, Tim Miller leaps from the stage to the page, as each performance script is illustrated with striking photographs and accompanied by Millers notes and comment.
This book explores the tangible body blowstaken and givenof Millers life and times as explored in his performances: the queer-bashers blow, the sweet blowing breath of a lover, the below-the-belt blow of HIV/AIDS, the psychic blows from a society that disrespects the humanity of lesbian and gay relationships. Millers performances are full of the put-up-your-dukes and stand-your-ground of such day-to-day blows that make up being gay in America
Synopsis
Betty Berzon, renowned psychotherapist and author of the bestselling book
Permanent Partners, tells her own incredible story here. Berzons journey from psychiatric patient on suicide watchher wrists tethered to the bed rails in a locked hospital wardto her present role as a groundbreaking therapist and gay pioneer makes for purely compelling reading.
Berzon is recognized today as a trailblazing co-founder of a number of important lesbian and gay organizations and one of the first therapists to focus on means of developing healthy gay relationships and overcoming homophobia. Her sometimes bumpy road to success never fails to fascinate. Along the way she encounters such luminaries as Anaïs Nin, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Sitwells, Evelyn Hooker, and Paul Monette. Her recollections here provide a collective portrait of her fellow pioneers and a stirring lesson in twentieth-century history.
It is, however, the intimate story of Berzons own private passage toward self-discoveryfrom mental breakdown and suicide attempts, through hospitalization, eventual triumphant recovery, and her own coming out as an open lesbian at the age of fortythat makes this memoir an urgent, insightful, and deeply emotional testament to human survival.
Synopsis
For a quarter century, Tim Miller has worked at the intersection of performance, politics, and identity, using his personal experiences to create entertaining but pointed explorations of life as a gay American manfrom the perils and joys of sex and relationships to the struggles of political disenfranchisement and artistic censorship. This intimate autobiographical collage of Miller's professional and personal life reveals one of the celebrated creators of a crucial contemporary art form and a tireless advocate for the American dream of political equality for all citizens.
Here we have the most complete Miller yeta raucous collection of his performance scripts, essays, interviews, journal entries, and photographs, as well as his most recent stage piece Us. This volume brings together the personal, communal, and national political strands that interweave through his work from its beginnings and ultimately define Miller's place as a contemporary artist, activist, and gay man.
Synopsis
The first critical biography of gay-rights activist Vito Russo. Celluloid Activist illuminates, through the life of this fascinating individual, some of the most explosive cultural revolutions in American history and significantly expands the fields of gay film studies, biography, and history.
About the Author
"Performance artist Tim Miller has been a pioneering and inspiring figure for twenty-five years. Taking us into the heart of his very original work,
1001 Beds shows Miller as an engaged and effective storyteller and provocateur. It will attract readers from a variety of constituencies and be wonderful for classes."Lynn C. Miller, editor of
Voices Made Flesh"Tim Miller has made a career not only of making the personal political, but more important, of making the political personal. As a result, 1001 Beds is not just a document of life as a performance artist, but a history of performance art; it is not just the story of a gay man, but an account of how being gay has changed."David Bergman, series editor
Table of Contents
Acknowledgmentsand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
List of Illustrationsand#160;and#160;and#160;
Introductionand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
1. Birth of a New Yorkerand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
2. Jersey Boyand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
3. Return of the Nativeand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
4. Birth of an Activistand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
5. andquot;Professional Movement Flash and Trashandquot;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
6. Building the Closetand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
7. andquot;A Time of Major Changeandquot;and#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
8. The Activist in Wartimeand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Afterwordand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Notesand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
List of Interviewsand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;
Bibliographyand#160;and#160; and#160;and#160;and#160; and#160;
Indexand#160;and#160;and#160;