Larry Kramer's new book, "The Tragedy of Today's Gays"

[Nothing Without Hope]

is described in Doug Ireland's blog, Direland:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/04/larry_kramers_n.html
I'll post the text of his comments here - the original at his site has embedded links as well.

This afternoon's mail brought me a copy of Larry Kramer's new book, "The Tragedy of Today's Gays," which Tarcher/Penguin is publishing on April 21. This version of Larry's terribly important speech last November at Cooper Union, which DIRELAND commended to your attention at the time, contains a new introduction with some explosive material, in particular Larry's disclosure that both New York Mayor Ed Koch and Dr. Richard Krause, the head of the National Institute of Alergies and Infectious Diseases at NIH, refused to do anything about AIDS for fear of being outed, and thousands died as a result. This book is must reading for anyone who is gay or has gay friends, anyone concerned with AIDS, and indeed anyone concerned with the context and contours of our current politics.

As usual, our dear Larry--a national treasure--does not hold back in this cri de coeur. It is damning indictment of the navel-gazing careerist hedonism, and the galloping, selfish conservatism, afflicting too many gay Americans; of their complacency and apathy; and of their appetites for self-destructive behavior. It is a call to conscience and to action. It is mordant and funny, it will make you cry, and--as our most important contemporary playwright, Tony Kushner, says--Larry's new book is "glorious, terrifically moving, fiery, and brilliant." Full disclosure: Larry says nice things about me in this book--but even if he hadn't, I'd insist you read this important manifesto and its life-saving, life-orienting counsel. This paperback edition, only $9.95, carries carries a forward by Naomi Wolf, and an afterword by Rodger McFarlane....

[saltpoint]

1. MacFarlane is himself a sharp mind. He once said of --

-- his cherished friend Larry Kramer:

"“When it comes to being an asshole, Larry is a virtuoso with no peer. Nobody can alienate people quicker, better, or more completely.”

--Rodger McFarlane, former lover of Larry Kramer, New Yorker, May 2002

===
And he meant it as a compliment. I respect these two guys a lot. Kramer I respect more as a PRESENCE in a social revolution than as an author.

[OneBlueSky]

2. the speech that this book elaborates on was amazing . . .

one of the best I ever read . . . and it spoke everyone, not just gay men . . . I don't have it handy right now, but if you get a chance, look it up and read it . . .

[GodlessBiker]

3. Who is he talking about?

...and the galloping, selfish conservatism, afflicting too many gay Americans; of their complacency and apathy;...

I assume he means the leaders of organizations like HRC, who care more about socializing and getting along with the upper crust or Washington than anything else.


He can't possibly mean typical gay people who work hard at their jobs, sometimes at two jobs, barely have enough time to see their partners, who don't know where to find drugs or how much to get even if they wanted to but who go out for a drink now and then, who find $350 or $500 a ticket to one of these fancy benefits hardly affordable, and who simply don't have the time or strength to attend political committee meetings but vote in every election.

[Boomer]

4. Gays? Oh, really?

>> It is damning indictment of the navel-gazing careerist hedonism, and the galloping, selfish conservatism, afflicting too many gay Americans... <<

I'm a gay woman and this does not describe my world. Presumably Kramer is talking about gay men, but evidently he does not consider the distinction noteworthy.

[Terran]

5. I think he's talking about Gay men in New York City

although I believe he would try to tell you that we're all like that. Not sure he really knows any other world than that. I saw him on tv discussing this book maybe a year ago, and my main impression was, "That doesn't fit me, or *any* of the people I know."

[Boomer]

6. Tunnel vision

Thanks, Terran -- I can't speaking for gay men, so I was wondering who could add their own perspective to that demographic.

I don't doubt that there are concentrated clusters of gay men who fit his view, but as you've indicated, it's by no means representative of the entire gay subculture.