On Being Different, Merle Miller
On Being Different, Merle Miller
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On Being Different
What It Means to Be a Homosexual

Author: Merle Miller, Dan Savage

Narrator: Paul Boehmer

Unabridged: 2 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 05/18/2021


Synopsis

The groundbreaking work on being homosexual in America—available again only from Penguin Classics and with a new foreword by Dan Savage

Originally published in 1971, Merle Miller’s On Being Different is a pioneering and thought-provoking book about being homosexual in the United States. Just two years after the Stonewall riots, Miller wrote a poignant essay for the New York Times Magazine entitled “What It Means To Be a Homosexual” in response to a homophobic article published in Harper’s Magazine. Described as “the most widely read and discussed essay of the decade,” it carried the seed that would blossom into On Being Different—one of the earliest memoirs to affirm the importance of coming out.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

About The Author

Merle Miller (1919–1986) was an editor at Harper’s Magazine, Time, and the Nation, and was the bestselling author of several books, including the novel A Gay and Melancholy Sound and Plain Speaking, a biography of President Harry Truman. Dan Savage is the internationally syndicated columnist of “Savage Love” and the author of several books. With his husband Terry Miller, he cofounded the It Gets Better project and edited the It Gets Better collection.Charles Kaiser is an author, journalist, and blogger. His books include 1968 in America and The Gay Metropolis, which was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kaya

I’M NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING Pieces like this, reading a slice of your own history makes me si incredibly emotional. I had a similar experience with Carol/The Price of Salt; just reading something that you know made such an impact and helped get things to where they are now. So that I can enjoy the l......more

Goodreads review by Shawn

Every baby gay read this (and straight people too), and reflect on the ghost of gay liberation past (know your history, girl). There may indeed be closets and bullies and asshats like Justice Scalia and mean crazies like the Westboro Baptists. But it does indeed get better, and Merle Miller reminds......more

Goodreads review by Emma

This short essay published in the New York Times Magazine was written as a response to a homophobic article published by Harper’s and written by Joseph Epstein. Even though the situations and experiences of today might be different from what Merle here describes, I think this is a very interesting r......more

Goodreads review by Scott

Here’s a legitimate question: Why are conservatives in this country losing their shit over pronouns? I don’t get it. I don’t understand how FOX News can have hour-long “discussions” about how people who prefer to be called “they/them” are destroying America. As if there aren’t a hundred other more i......more


Quotes

“Forty years after Miller’s article and book his eloquent voice is still poignant, still relevant to the ongoing struggle, our struggle for dignity and equal rights.” — Jonathan Ned Katz, Founder, Co-Director, OutHistory.org

“Forty years later, the story Miller tells remains important and necessary to read, not only for both gay and straight readers to understand ‘the way it used to be,’ but because the issues Miller raised are still being discussed and argued about.” — Nancy Pearl

“Merle Miller’s On Being Different is a searing indictment of social hypocrisy, written with a quite but burning passion… This book is not only a valuable historical document about the gay civil rights movement, but it is an American classic because of the beauty it achieves through its unflinchingly honest portrayal of the raw pain of rejection.” — David Carter, author Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution

“Without indulging in sensationalism or special pleading but making it clear that he was writing directly from his own experience, [Miller] bridged the gap between the ‘straights’ and the ‘gays’ in a way that few recent writers on the subject have done. He also put himself on the line as a well-known writer, who was not afraid to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality.” — Publishers Weekly

“Brilliant, moving, and one is obliged to add, courageous narrative of personal homosexuality.” — James A. Wechsler, columnist