Best of
Gay

1968

Good Times/Bad Times


James Kirkwood Jr. - 1968
    Hoyt, Peter begins to pen the letter that makes up the pages of Good Times/Bad Times.From Peter’s elaborate involvement on campus and meeting the closest friend he’s ever had to the unwelcome sexual advances he received from Mr. Hoyt, this letter tells of the ups and downs of Peter’s time at school.As the good times give way to bad and a series of compelling incidents steadily heighten the tension of his time as a student at Gilford Academy, readers fall under the spell of the magnificent storyteller Peter exposes himself to be. Good Times/Bad Times pulses with warmth and laughter of the young and still honest, complete with strong and memorable characters.

The Naked Civil Servant


Quentin Crisp - 1968
    But in that year, Quentin Crisp made the courageous decision to "come out" as a homosexual. This exhibitionist with the henna-dyed hair was harassed, ridiculed and beaten. Nevertheless, he claimed his right to be himself—whatever the consequences. The Naked Civil Servant is both a comic masterpiece and a unique testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Middle Ground


Ursula Zilinsky - 1968
    They are trapped together in a nightmare devised to destroy them both, which demands that they relate to each other only as oppressor and victim. But as the insanity of their situation increases and the world around them collapses, they find themselves occupying the most untenable place of all: Middle Ground.

The Boys in the Band


Mart Crowley - 1968
    . . [Mart] Crowley's point is about how the humor is shaped and defined by the pain."-The New York TimesThe Boys in the Band was the first commercially successful play to reveal gay life to mainstream America. Alyson is proud to release a special fortieth anniversary edition of the play, which includes an original preface by acclaimed writer Tony Kushner (Angels in America), along with previously unpublished photographs of Mart Crowley and the cast of the play/film.Mart Crowley's other plays include the autobiographical A Breeze from the Gulf (1973) and The Men from the Boys (2002).

Lysis/Phaedrus/Symposium: Plato on Homosexuality


Plato - 1968
    How should we understand such concepts as: the beloved, physical beauty, the beauty that transcends the physical, and the power of love between men as the ancient Greeks understood it? In these three dialogues, the Lysis, Phaedrus, and Symposium, Socrates, the gadfly of Athens, searches for the truth about love and friendship. In doing so, he reveals how his Athenian contemporaries regarded homosexual love as an educative, aesthetic, and social force.

Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure


Marie-Jaqueline Lancaster - 1968
    Marie-Jaqueline Lancaster’s biography makes him — at last — the protagonist of his own highly entertaining story. Packed with dishy reminiscences and extracts from Howard’s letters and writings, this book details the outrageous parties, stunts, and confrontations that were second-nature to this ne'er-do-well. Chronicling 30 years of waste and dereliction, Lancaster captures a prototypical gay literary life, perfect for anyone curious about gay history, the 1920s, modernism, or the mystery of failed artistic promise. From austere libraries in Oxford to seedy hotels in Amsterdam to darkened cinemas in Tangiers, Howard lived and died precociously and — most importantly — as he pleased. Brian Howard: Portrait of a Failure is the next best thing to an invitation to one of his famous parties.

A Sand Fortress


John Coriolan - 1968
    

Happyland and Other Stories


Alexander Goodman - 1968