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Description
This is the tenth anniversary edition of Cures: A Gay Man’s Odyssey, Martin Duberman’s classic memoir of growing up gay in pre-Stonewall America. The tale of his desperate struggle to cure himself of his homosexuality through psychotherapy is utterly frank and deeply moving. But Cures is more than one man’s story; it’s the vivid, witty account of a generation, of changing times, shifting social attitudes, and the rising tide of protest against received wisdom. For this tenth anniversary edition, Duberman has written a substantial new afterword that updates both his personal history and the ongoing struggle for a more just society.
About the Author
Martin Duberman is Distinguished Professor of History at the City University of New York and Founding Director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies.
Martin Duberman occupies a singularly important place in American culture. Happily, he has now reissued his autobiography Cures. Duberman’s lifelong quest to understand history—our history and his—has always been unflinchingly honest, intellectually bold, and courageous. I am grateful to him for his life and work.
— Catharine R. Stimpson, Dean and University Professor, New York University
The list of books that Martin Duberman has given us is a long and illustrious one, and Cures certainly stands as one of the most compelling. It displays the skill of a graceful stylist, the insight of a smart historian, and the painful honesty of a man who survived the generation when living in the closet was the norm because the price of coming out was so high. Cures is one of the reasons why memoirs have such so much appeal—I couldn’t put it down.”
— John D'Emilio, author of The World Turned: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and Culture
”Martin Duberman is known for his unique combination of talents – as a distinguished historian, a talented writer, an impassioned advocate of the rights of gays and other beleaguered members of the human community. That his pioneering work remains alive and has influenced so many is itself a dramatic victory for human rights.”
— Howard Zinn
Praise for the first edition:
How he gradually came to embrace his sexual orientation as normal is the focus of this searingly candid, sometimes painful, affecting autobiography-one man's odyssey from self-sabotage to self acceptance… Including a frank account of his love affairs, this intense confessional is full of witty self-deflation as Duberman critiques his own stances on political, sexual and intellectual debates of the last three decades. He gives a witty and searingly candid account of how he came to accept his homosexuality despite the efforts of psychotherapists intent on 'curing' him of it.
— Publishers Weekly
A beautifully written account…This is a brave book, and one which deserves to be widely read.
— Dennis Altman, author of Aids in the Mind of America
…his testimony is both affecting and a gay liberation document of the first water.
— Booklist
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