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 Drawing on archival materials, unpublished letters and journals, and more than two hundred interviews, including conversations with a range of Russoandrsquo;s friends and family from brother Charlie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
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
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
The essays collected here explore the power and sensuality that food engenders within literature. The book permits the reader to sample food as a rhetorical structure, one that allows the individual writers to articulate the abstract concepts in a medium that is readily understandable.
The second part of Cooking by the Book turns to the more diverse food rhetorics of the marketplace. What, for example, is the fast food rhetoric? Why are there so many eating disorders in our society? Is it possible to teach philosophy through cookery? How long has vegetarianism been popular?"
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
Betty Berzon has been a psychotherapist for thirty years. A member of the American Psychological Association since 1964, she is author of several popular books, including Permanent Partners: Building Gay and Lesbian Relationships That Last and Setting Them Straight: You Can Do Something About Bigotry and Homophobia In Your Life.
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;