Out in All Directions: The Almanac of Gay and Lesbian America, edited by Lynn Witt, Sherry Thomas, and Eric Marcus (Warner Books)
Out in All Directions is a smorgasbord of information that is so exciting and pleasurable, it's difficult for the reader to know what to read first. As the reader browses the 600-plus pages, all sorts of illustrations, articles, lists, and marginalia vie for immediate attention.
Divided into 10 chapters, the themes in Out in All Directions include: "Myths and Facts," "The Material World" (among the topics are: "Owning Our Own: Gay and Lesbian Bookstores," "Queer Groups at Work," and "Gay Money: What Is It? Who Has It?"), and "We Are Everywhere" (the topics in this chapter include: "Gays in the Fashion Industry," "Queers in the Church," "Out of the Closet, Into the Newsroom," and "Sports Are for Sissies, Too.")
The editors have made a special effort to be inclusive, hence there is much information by and about people of color, for example.
The stated aim of the editors is to "uncover history, illuminate gay and lesbian life, explode myths, and break new ground."
One flaw in the book is the listing of famous people as gay or lesbian without corroborating evidence. How does Jim Kepner know for sure that the scientist George Washington Carver or the composer Harold Arlen were gay men? What are his sources?
Out in All Directions belongs in every gay and lesbian home library despite that flaw because it contains genuinely important information we all--gay and straight-- should know about.
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