Deviant Life-Styles

“This anthology includes fifteen descriptive/ethnographic papers previously published in Transaction/Society magazine. The deviant life-styles described range all the way from religious snake handlers of West Virginia to swingers, and include Jesus freaks, ghetto dwellers, group dieting organizations, public restroom homosexuality, male houses of prostitution, transsexuals, strippers, massage parlours, juvenile gangs, and skid-row bums. . . . The avowed purpose of the book is to convey to a reader ‘sympathetic understanding’ of deviant life styles. Without question that goal is achieved. . . . [The papers] contain astute interpretations, and . . . fill glaring gaps in our descriptive knowledge. Furthermore, a general reader who is unfamiliar with unconventional ways of living would surely have his/her eyes opened. There is no question but that it is interesting reading.”

—Charles R. Tittle, Contemporary Sociology