Book Review	Book Reviews Archive

White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic
Benjamin Heim Shepard
Cassell
How to order Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde
Moises Kaufman
Grove Press
How to order Gay Man's Guide to Heterosexuality, A
C. E. Crimmins, Tom O'Leary
St. Martin's Press
How to order

Year 2000 will mark the 100th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's death, and the great playwright and social philosopher is being recognized not only for his wit and wisdom, but for the tragedy of his life. Oscar Wilde is today probably the most famous person to be punished by the state for homosex. After three trials (the first a libel suit he brought against his lover's father, the second two for sodomy) Wilde was sentenced to two years' hard labor. In Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Grove Press, paper, 144 pages, $10), playwright Moises Kaufman has taken the trial transcripts, shortening and combining them into a concise narrative. The result is a brilliant play that gives the history of Wilde's life and crimes, and allows us to see how social hatred sent Wilde to prison.

View our poll archive

Kaufman augments and juxtaposes the transcripts with quotes from the popular press and such eminent Victorians as George Bernard Shaw (one of the few prominent writers who publicly stood by Wilde) and Victoria Regina herself (who agreed that male homosexual behavior should be punished, but did not believe that women would engage in same-sex antics). Kaufman wipes away the myths and historical hearsay to present Wilde's story in a broad social context.

Kaufman amasses a dazzling display of historical research, woven together with sharp intelligence, and showing tight-edged, forceful stagecraft. In Gross Indecency, the state's case against Oscar Wilde becomes an indictment of how "proper" and "moral" society punishes those who speak the truth and expose sexual and social hypocrisy

Anthropology comes in many guises, and while many Westerners earlier this century may have been thrilled to learn about the mating habits of Samoans, readers today demand something more sophisticated. That is why A Gay Man's Guide to Heterosexuality (St. Martin's Press, paper, 145 pages, $14.95) is a vital book. Taking their cue from Thorsted Veblen's classic The Theory of the Leisure Class-- which used traditional anthropological methods to examine the lives of the rich and entitled-- C. E. Crimmins and Tom O'Leary have put together a guide that explains (for the clueless queer) why straight people act the way they do. From heterosexual food (Cheese Whiz, Pringles, Tang, and Rice-A-Roni) to heterosexual music (Loretta Lynn, Smashing Pumpkins, AC/DC), to heterosexual casual wear (nylon black socks, funny tweed hats, and leather sandals with white socks), the authors explicate how the other 90 percent live. While not all the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, there are a dozen or so on a page so you never go long without at least a sustained giggle. Blatantly homo-chauvinistic, A Gay Man's Guide to Heterosexuality uses humor and gay wit to explains how all of us live today.

History not only moves quickly-- it is, in essence, what happened yesterday-- but it's also quickly forgotten. This is especially true when many of the people who made it are dead or dying. Benjamin Heim Shepard's beautifully composed, wonderfully moving White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic (Cassell, paper, 278 pages, $19.95) is a fine and telling history of how one city faced-- and still does-- the effects of AIDS. Based on interviews and oral histories with 30 people with AIDS, Benjamin Shepard pieces together more than three decades-- from 1968 to 1998-- of gay life and culture.

Alternatively brave, fragile, furious, and mournful, the men interviewed here speak their minds and force their visions and politics upon us in unforgettable ways. Again and again we are reminded of how diverse and complicated the gay "community" is, and how each of its aspects has been effected by AIDS. The ultimate effect of White Nights and Ascending Shadows is to remind us that AIDS has changed how we view and do politics, it has changed art, it has reorganized how we live and think and talk. As a cultural, political, and medical history, White Nights and Ascending Shadows is an important book and the men who speak throughout it are determined that we remember who they were and what they did to preserve their lives, their families, and their culture. **

Author Profile:  Michael Bronski
	Michael Bronski is the author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility and The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom. He writes frequently on sex, books, movies, and culture, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
	Email:	mabronski@aol.com