Synopses & Reviews
In this tenth-anniversary edition, journalist Michelangelo Signorile updates his classic Queer in America, the bestseller that exposed the hypocrisy and prejudice that pervade mainstream American institutions. This third edition includes a new preface and a new chapter with an eye-opening critique of present-day America and its attitude toward gays and lesbians.
Review
“Queer in America offers a detailed and powerful account of the destructive workings of the closet on the lives of those in it, gay people in general, and the social institutions that structure meaning and power in America. Openly gay people, in order to live morally, must not play along with the convention of the closet [which] treats gays as less than human...Signoriles brilliant analysis shows why.”—Richard D. Mohr, The Nation
Review
“In this combative, powerful, gutsy book, [Signorile] charges that three power structures—Washington, Hollywood, the media industry—conspire to keep gays and lesbians in the closet.”—Publishers Weekly
Review
"I consider Queer in America one of the most important books of the twentieth century."—Larry Kramer
Review
“A journalistic history of gay activism in the AIDS era, a coming-of-age coming-out memoir, a manual for guerrilla politics in the Age of Information, and even a utopian blueprint for the high-tech liberation of coming generations of lesbians and gay men. Queer in America will open minds as well as closets.”—Washington Post
Review
"Signorile has almost single-handedly transformed the American political landscape."—Boston Phoenix
Review
"[Queer in Americas] greatest contribution lies not in [its] defense of outing, but in its critical analysis of the closet. Signorile proposes that the closet, while a private tragedy, is also a public institution, one thats actively maintained by the media, the political establishment, and the entertainment industry. . . . A provocative idea from a provocative thinker [whom] you may embrace or detest, but you cant easily dismiss."—New York Newsday
About the Author
Queer in America offers a detailed and powerful account of the destructive workings of the closet on the lives of those in it, gay people in general, and the social institutions that structure meaning and power in America. Openly gay people, in order to live morally, must not play along with the convention of the closet [which] treats gays as less than human...Signoriles brilliant analysis shows why.”Richard D. Mohr,
The NationIn this combative, powerful, gutsy book, [Signorile] charges that three power structuresWashington, Hollywood, the media industryconspire to keep gays and lesbians in the closet.”Publishers Weekly
"I consider Queer in America one of the most important books of the twentieth century."Larry KramerA journalistic history of gay activism in the AIDS era, a coming-of-age coming-out memoir, a manual for guerrilla politics in the Age of Information, and even a utopian blueprint for the high-tech liberation of coming generations of lesbians and gay men. Queer in America will open minds as well as closets.”Washington Post
"Signorile has almost single-handedly transformed the American political landscape."Boston Phoenix
"[Queer in Americas] greatest contribution lies not in [its] defense of outing, but in its critical analysis of the closet. Signorile proposes that the closet, while a private tragedy, is also a public institution, one thats actively maintained by the media, the political establishment, and the entertainment industry. . . . A provocative idea from a provocative thinker [whom] you may embrace or detest, but you cant easily dismiss."New York Newsday