Place at the Table - Hardcover

Bawer, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671795333 ISBN 13: 9780671795337

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1993

Synopsis

Resisting the limiting stereotypes of homophobes and the extremism of a highly vocal gay subculture is the task confronting mainstream homosexuals, according to a cultural examination of the complex predicament of the modern gay individual. Tour.

About this title

About the Author:

A native New Yorker who has lived in Norway since 1999, Bruce Bawer has written several influential books on a range of issues. A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society (1993) was named by columnist Dale Carpenter as the most important non-fiction book about homosexuality published in the 1990s; Publishers Weekly called Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity (1997) a must-read book for anyone concerned with the relationship of Christianity to contemporary American culture; While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West from Within (2006) was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist; and Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (2009) was hailed by Booklist as immensely important and urgent." He has also published several collections of literary and film criticism, including Diminishing Fictions and The Aspect of Eternity, and a collection of poetry, Coast to Coast, which was selected by the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook as the best first book of poems published in 1993. He is a frequent contributor to such publications as The Hudson Review, City Journal, The American Scholar, Wilson Quarterly, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and has reviewed books regularly for the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and Wall Street Journal.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Bawer brings to the volatile public discussion of homosexuality the same moral reasoning and civilized demeanor evident in his cultural criticism (The Aspect of Eternity, p. 632). This passionate, persuasive book should be the starting point for all future debate. What separates Bawer's honest and accessible argument from other polemics on homosexuality--aside from its moral perspective- -is its audience. Bawer treats the opposition with respect while never compromising his goal: the triumph of ``reason over irrationality, acceptance over estrangement [and] love over loathing.'' He premises his work on the reasonable assumption that there's a vast disparity between the gay subculture and the reality of most gay life in America. The public debate has been shaped by highly vocal denizens of the urban gay ghettos, a group that has portrayed itself as sex-obsessed, irresponsible, and politically beyond the pale. Meanwhile, the conservative opposition too often frames its position in response to the subcultural stereotypes. That's no excuse, though, for right-wing homophobia and its buzzwords (``choice,'' ``recruit,'' ``advocate,'' ``abnormal,'' ``lifestyle,'' etc.), each of which Bawer eloquently addresses. Bawer's defense of the ``silent majority'' of gays is based in his own Christian faith and conservative values. He brilliantly exposes the social policy of denying domestic partnership rights as complicit with the sexually permissive underground of bathhouses and porno theaters. Moreover, not only does he address Bible-based anti-gay attitudes, but he defuses the anti-family posturing of both the gay radicals and their right-wing counterparts. At his best, Bawer depoliticizes a subject overcharged with rhetoric, reminding us that there's really no reason for shock value. To call Bawer's subtle narrative ``centrist'' misses its truly post- ideological significance. Bawer artfully weaves autobiography into his eloquent defense of the common sense that exists somewhere between closeted denial and outrageous activism. This could be the crossover book many have been waiting for--plain and sane talk about a complex issue. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0671795333
• ISBN 13: 9780671795337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272