This is really good! I was expecting something like The Best Little Boy in the World, and they are superficially similar, but I bounced hard off TBLBITW because the author's selfishness and emotional immaturity isn't balanced by anything worthwhile. (eta: and bigotry of literally every kind; I had forgotten what a flaming shitbag the best little boy is.)

In contrast, Duberman's memoir is alternated and interlaced with the broader historical context of gay activism, even where he didn't know or purposely avoided what was going on at the time. I mean: he went to the Stonewall Inn at least once a week in 1969! wasn't there on the night of June 28th! places himself in his apartment a few blocks away! shut away from it all behind his academic work and internalized homophobia and political disdains! Wow.

Duberman's past self is super self-critical and anxious in a way I found almost triggering; looking backwards he doesn't let himself off the hook but balances the hook with compassion. (WOW I am so glad I grew up long after psychoanalysis had fallen out of fashion, because being expected to tear yourself apart that way sounds like my absolute worst and most counterproductive instincts.) He talks a bit about his failure to see or understand lesbian issues and the criticism he sometimes received for it at the time, and he doesn't have much to say about racial or class oppression intersecting with homophobia. Still: do recommend, especially if you're interested in a less-typical view on gay history. ( )