Better Angels, Wayne Goodman
Better Angels, Wayne Goodman
List: $16.95 | Sale: $11.87
Club: $8.47

Better Angels
A Retelling of Bayard Taylor's "Joseph and His Friend: A Pennsylvania Story

Author: Wayne Goodman

Narrator: Wayne Goodman

Unabridged: 8 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/30/2017

Categories: Fiction, Lgbtq+


Synopsis

Joseph Asten, a handsome, 23-year-old farmer living in the Allegheny River Valley shortly after the Civil War, secretly longed for intimacy and love with other men. He devised a misguided plan to marry a woman who knew of his “dual nature” then his life took some unexpected, fateful turns.

Bayard Taylor’s "Joseph and His Friend: A Pennsylvania Story" is considered the first American Gay novel. Originally published in 1869 as a serial in "The Atlantic," the author could not relate the story openly and had to use suggestive ways to describe his characters’ activities and motivations. In "Better Angels," Goodman retells the tale frankly and candidly, free from antiquated 19th Century cultural restraints. This is the author’s second book revivifying forgotten, historically-significant Queer stories. Previously, in "Vanya Says, 'Go!,'” Goodman updated the first Russian-language Gay novel "Wings," by Silver-Age poet Mikhail Kuzmin.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on February 25, 2020

This 40+ year old novel by master spy author Charles McCarry is unexpectedly timely. The story revolves around the assassination (or suicide) of an Arab leader who may or may not have had dirty bombs in his possession. The CIA (or rather, its successor organization established after investigations r......more

Goodreads review by Douglas on March 21, 2021

THE BETTER ANGELS by Charles McCarry does not involve the hero in the Paul Christopher series, but it does center on some of Paul's relatives. The book was written in 1978, but is set in 1999. McCarry establishes the premise of the story early; it involves the murder by the US's secret intelligence......more

Goodreads review by Shary on February 27, 2022

Written in 1978, set during the Presidential election of 1999. One political party describes itself as rationalists, who believe that technology is the answer to most problems, investing in space and other planets, and in some pretty gruesome measures (screening people for the potential for committin......more

Goodreads review by Bernardas on November 02, 2022

Knyga išėjo XX a. aštuntajame dešimtmetyje. Tuo metu autoriaus išgalvojimas, kad teroristai naudoja keleivinius lėktuvus kaip ginklus, atrodė nesąmoningai nerealistiškas ir skaitytojams nepatiko. O po Rugsėjo 11-osios romaną pradėjo pristatinėti kaip "pranašišką trilerį". Švelnus futurizmas (bandyta......more

Goodreads review by Al on August 31, 2022

This book is probably best understood when one realizes that it was written in 1979. Clearly, the two presidential candidate characters dominating the story, locked in an election campaign struggle, are surrogates for Carter and Reagan. Despite the obvious flaws of both, and they are presented as o......more