A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture

by Will Fellows

Overview

From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. A Passion to Preserve explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men’s lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the United States, highlighting contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally inclined to make.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299196837
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	08/26/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	298
File size:	626 KB

About the Author

Will Fellows is the author of Farm Boys, which was honored as a best book of 1996 by Esquire Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 1997. He lives in Milwaukee.

Table of Contents

<table of contents, p. vii> Contents Preface 000 <LINE SPACE> Charlotte and Me: Preservation-Minded from Childhood 3 In Search of Gay Preservationists 000 What These Gay Men's Lives Reveal 000 Part 1. Saving Old New England 000 Mark Doty 000 Don Leavitt 000 Mark Sammons 000 Part 2. Design-Minded in the Mid-Atlantic States 000 Ken Lustbader 000 James Nocito 000 Dwight Young 000 Greg Kinsman 000 Part 3. To the Rescue in the Atlantic South 000 Allan Gurganus 000 Myrick Howard 000 John Anders 000 Robert Barker 000 Cranford Sutton 000 Part 4. Domophiles Out West 000 Jay Yost 000 Ken Miller 000 Gilbert Millikan and David Richards 000 Richard Jost and Charles Fuchs 000 Part 5. California Conservative 000 Richard Reutlinger 000 Gerry Takano 000 Jeffrey Samudio 000 Jim Wilke 000 Part 6. Generations of Gentlemen Keep Cooksville, Wisconsin 000 William Wartmann 000 Al Garland 000 Larry Reed 000 Part 7. Singular Preservationists in the Midwest 000 Dana Duppler 000 Joe Johnson and Ron Markwell 000 Robert Seger 000 Part 8. Cherishing Old New Orleans and Louisiana 000 Curt Greska 000 Lloyd Sensat 000 Randy Plaisance 000 Toward a Larger View of Gay Men 000 Conclusion 000 <LINE SPACE> Acknowledgments 000 Notes 000

Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Gay men United States Biography, Cultural property Protection United States

Editorial Reviews

Compelling . . . stories and first-person accounts from gay men across the country . . . provide a colorful picture of a landscape that has not really been painted until now.”—The Advocate

“A concept at once original and yet so obvious it is surprising that no one has attempted it before.”—Library Journal

“A rich and detailed examination of an important and heretofore neglected aspect of our urban heritage.”—Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

"Anyone who shares a love of the past will undoubtedly find this book inspirational and moving. Will Fellows has done an excellent job of...recounting the exploits of past 'bachelor uncles' and 'temperamental men' who saved buildings from the wrecking ball of progress and urban renewal."—Bay Window

"Clearly Will Fellows has hit a nerve with many gay men, and many of them write about their collecting and preserving, from childhood on, often sacrificing friends, livelihoods, careers, and lovers to do so. As with his previous book, Farm Boys, Fellows presents the material in people's own voices as much as possible and the best of these essays (and there are many) are wonderfully readable capsule biographies and histories."—Darden A. Pyron, author of Liberace: An American Boy

From the Publisher