<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Revealing!
Review: A fascinating look at how the US military treated gays and lesbians during WWII. Especially interesting is the military's double standard: allowing gays and lesbians in the military during the war years because they were much needed, but taking a tougher line towards them after the war was over.
Rating: 
Summary: The only book on this subject worth reading
Review: It has taken me almost FOREVER to write this book review, which is a real pity, since this is the only book about 'gays in the military' that you really should bother reading. I read it last summer, when I was living in Northampton, Massachusetts. The region is widely viewed as a lesbian mecca, and while this statement is too extreme, it has a large kernel of truth. There are many lesbians (god bless 'em) in the area, and they are very socially and politically active. I would recommend they read a book Honorable Discharge: Confessions of an Army Dyke. (You can find that on Amazon.com) Not that I agree with the premise in that book--as the reader will see shortly, Berube's book is much better-- but they are more likely to relate to the issues discussed, as they are from a woman's perspective. Berube--while touching on the issue of lesbians in the military ('butches', as he calls them often)-- spends most of his text on the male perspective. Gay activists expecting to see a book that falls into the "Gays were fine in the military until Ronald Reagan and all those born again Christians came along" are gonna be REAL REAL disappointed in THIS text. Being gay was no problem in the military until psychiatrists developed cute little oppression theories and wondered if it might be more 'compassionate' to dismiss gays from the armed services. When did THIS happen? Why, just prior and during WWII! The primary motivation was to get respect for their profession of psychiatry and if that meant a few hundred--few thousand--few hundred thousand, by now--gays in the US armed forces had a tougher go of it, well, that was just too bad. By the 1950s the idea that gays were unfit for national service, threats to national security, dissatisfied snivelers and commie sympathizers was (with a little help from Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Chambers...) firmly entrenched. The focus changed from dismissing people on the basis of what they DID to dismissing them for what they WERE. Sound familiar? The entire network, the sickening web of government paternalism that characterized the 'no way you can do it without help from us' politics of the 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in quotas under the guise of 'affirmative action' (no quotas on us gay guys, though! Sorry folks..we were on the wrong side of the fence!); all dates back to this period. It fell apart under the cumulative weight of its own stupidity in the 1980s. May it never rise again. Berube deals with the problems gay men and women endured serving in the US Armed forces with dignity and calm professionalism. He daels with delicate emotional issues with maturity and discretion. To Randy Shilts, US Navy ships are floating drag shows filled with t-rooms in the bulkheads. To Berube, they were a difficult environment where men might have to seek moments of affection in such isolated places as anterooms near gun turrets. Berube makes clear that 'campiness' and 'double entendres' amidst gay personnel were a way to survive and endure in a military setting; a way to release tension and relax. To Shilts they were verbal personal ads. To Berube, having to share bunks on troop trains meant that men might be able to get together 'once the curtains were drawn in those lower bunks.' To Shilts all that would matter was an orgy en route. In summary, this book is not about Gay Soldiers. Berube talks about Soldiers, who happen to be gay. Gay activists have yet to learn the difference, if they ever will.
Rating:
Summary: Time to honor these heros
Review: Simply stated, this was not an easy book to read. One has only to scan the first chapter to begin cringing at the shameful way that gay and lesbian soldiers were treated by their own government.
It can certainly be said that The United States of America has more to be proud of than most nations. Our achievements are many and justly celebrated. However, there are episodes in our great nation's history which cause us to feel anger, contempt and sorrow. We must remember that it was "we the people" who allowed the near genocide of America's indigenous peoples; the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Africans; the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII; the persecution of American Leftists during the McCarthy era; and, just as egregious, the wanton and callus betrayal of American soldiers who's only crime was being born gay or lesbian.
Stories of inhuman degradation at the hands of a malicious psychiatric community bent on establishing a solid and permanent reputation within the medical community, are plentiful. The great majority of these men and women served the Untied States with distinction. That their patriotism was met with contempt, and their lives often ruined by a "blue" discharge, is a stain on our nation's honor.
Rating:
Summary: Time to honor these heros
Review: Simply stated, this was not an easy book to read. One has only to scan the first chapter to begin cringing at the shameful way that gay and lesbian soldiers were treated by their own government.
It can certainly be said that The United States of America has more to be proud of than most nations. Our achievements are many and justly celebrated. However, there are episodes in our great nation's history which cause us to feel anger, contempt and sorrow. We must remember that it was "we the people" who allowed the near genocide of America's indigenous peoples; the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of Africans; the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII; the persecution of American Leftists during the McCarthy era; and, just as egregious, the wanton and callus betrayal of American soldiers who's only crime was being born gay or lesbian.
Stories of inhuman degradation at the hands of a malicious psychiatric community bent on establishing a solid and permanent reputation within the medical community, are plentiful. The great majority of these men and women served the Untied States with distinction. That their patriotism was met with contempt, and their lives often ruined by a "blue" discharge, is a stain on our nation's honor.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting read...but very repetitive and slow...
Review: This book was of interesting subject matter but seemed to be repetitive and dragging. The information could have been presented in half as many pages. An interesting read if you have a lot of spare time.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read...but very repetitive and slow...
Review: This book was of interesting subject matter but seemed to be repetitive and dragging. The information could have been presented in half as many pages. An interesting read if you have a lot of spare time.
<< 1 >>
| 
