Author | Dan Savage |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Politics, Religion |
Publisher | Dutton Adult |
Publication date | 2002 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | |
Pages | 320 |
ISBN | 0-525-94675-6 |
OCLC | 49421653 |
Preceded by | The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant (1999). |
Followed by | The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family (2005). |
Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America is a non-fiction book by Dan Savage, first published in 2002 by Dutton. The book examines the concept of happiness in American culture, as obtained by indulging in each of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Skipping Towards Gomorrah was selected for inclusion in The Best American Sex Writing 2004, [1] and won a Lambda Literary Award in 2003. [2] [3] [4] The book received a favorable reception from reviews in Publishers Weekly , [5] Library Journal , [6] and Kirkus Reviews . [7] A review in Flagpole Magazine was critical of the book's organization, and observed that the writing wandered a bit, [8] while a review in Gay Today commented, "Those who agree with Savage's views will like his book while those who disagree will hate it; in either case there will be no converts." [9]
The book's title is a reference to Robert Bork's 1996 book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah (itself a reference to Yeats's poem The Second Coming ), in which Bork decried what he saw as modern moral corruption caused by liberalism, especially social liberalism. [9] Skipping Towards Gomorrah examines the concept of happiness in American culture, as obtained by indulging in each of the Seven Deadly Sins. [10] In each chapter, Savage explores a different subculture in an attempt to understand how its participants gain happiness, and contrasts this with religious conservatism. [11] Regarding his experience of gambling, Savage notes, "You know the only thing worse than losing big the first time you go into a casino? Winning big." [12] Savage writes, "The truly revolutionary promise of our nation's founding document is the freedom to pursue happiness-with-a-capital-H". [13] The author asserts he is pointing out hypocritical behavior in the book, "Young people have finely tuned bullshit detectors, and nothing annoys people more than adult hypocrisy". [14]
The book was first published by Dutton in 2002 in hardcover format. [15] [16] A subsequent edition was published by Plume, in 2003 in paperback format. [17] [18] Savage appeared on The O'Reilly Factor as part of the marketing for the book, and supported sex education. [19]
Skipping Towards Gomorrah was selected for inclusion in The Best American Sex Writing 2004, [1] and won a 2003 Lambda Literary Award in the humor category. [2] [3] [4] A review of the book in Publishers Weekly was positive and the review concluded, "On the whole, however, Savage hits the mark and gives advocates of personal and sexual liberty the hippest, sassiest voice they've had in a long time." [5] A review in Library Journal noted, "His real strength is in blending pungent social commentary with the personal narrative. At least one of these pieces will undoubtedly land in an anthology for future students of the essay." [6] The review concluded, "The explicit nature of this book will make it a difficult purchase for many libraries in the age of Ashcroft, but the justifying argument should be made that any library owning Bork's book needs this one as an antidote." [6] Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Common sense is Savage’s strong suit, and he makes more of it than a preening moralist ever could." [7] Kelly Darrah of The Gonzaga Bulletin noted, "'Skipping' does a powerful job of taking a raw look at the embarrassing facets of our society that we often will ourselves not to see. Savage forces us to reexamine what we've been taught about morality and what constitutes an 'ethical' decision." [20]
A review by Flagpole Magazine writer Jyl Inov concluded, "This book wanders. It talks more about some sins than others and often takes a long time to get to a particular point. But in the end, it is wildly amusing and makes a lot of sense. Skipping Towards Gomorrah is not going to make converts of conservatives, but if they are willing to read, it just might make them think. As for everybody else, it is reaffirming and potentially motivating." [8] In his book Reordered Love, Reordered Lives: Learning the Deep Meaning of Happiness, author David K. Naugle commented, "This book is an irreverent attack on the 'virtuecrats' who hypocritically impose their moral values on others." [13] Writing in a review for Gay Today, Jesse Monteagudo observed, "Those who agree with Savage's views will like his book while those who disagree will hate it; in either case there will be no converts. Still, in a literary genre dominated by the Borks and Bennetts it is good to hear a dissenting voice. Reading Skipping Towards Gomorrah reminds us that there is still some sanity left in this world." [9] Rebecca Flint of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Skipping follows the writer as he tackles each of the seven deadlies, hanging out with everyone from gamblers to adulterers to the filthy rich. Lacing his anecdotes with persuasive arguments for the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in all its sinful forms, he takes readers on a journey that's as insightful as it is hilarious." [21]
Robert Heron Bork was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1982 to 1988. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Senate rejected his nomination after a contentious and highly publicized confirmation hearing.
Daniel Keenan Savage is an American author, media pundit, journalist, and LGBT community activist. He writes Savage Love, an internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column. In 2010, Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, began the It Gets Better Project to help prevent suicide among LGBT youth. He has also worked as a theater director, sometimes credited as Keenan Hollahan.
Urvashi Vaid was an Indian-born American LGBT rights activist, lawyer, and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she was a consultant in attaining specific goals of social justice. She held a series of roles at the National LGBTQ Task Force, serving as executive director from 1989-1992 — the first woman of color to lead a national gay-and-lesbian organization. She is the author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation (1995) and Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics (2012).
Edmund Valentine White III is an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer and an essayist on literary and social topics.
King & King is a children's picture book co-authored and co-illustrated by Stern Nijland and Linda De Haan. King & King tells the story of a young prince whose mother is forcing him to find his princess. However, after meeting many princesses, the prince falls in love with another prince. King & King was originally written in Frisian and has since been published in ten languages. The book's illustrations have received both positive and negative reviews, as has the storyline. The book has been analyzed for both its usefulness in the classroom and its challenges to social norms.
Michael Thomas Ford is an American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series of comedic essay collections and for his award-winning novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, and What We Remember.
Muscle worship is a form of body worship in which one participant, the worshiper, touches the muscles of another participant, the dominant, in a sexually arousing manner. The practice of muscle worship can involve various wrestling holds and lifts, as well as the rubbing, massaging, kissing, or licking of a dominant's body. Although muscle worship participants may be of any gender or sexual orientation, the dominant, is almost always an individual with either a large body size or a high degree of visible muscle mass, while the worshiper is often, but not always, skinnier or smaller.
In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Their story parallels the Genesis flood narrative in its theme of God's anger provoked by man's sin. They are mentioned frequently in the prophets and the New Testament as symbols of human wickedness and divine retribution, and the Quran also contains a version of the story about the two cities.
Savage Love: Straight Answers from America's Most Popular Sex Columnist is a non-fiction book by sex columnist Dan Savage. It was first published in 1998 by Plume.
The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant is a non-fiction book by Dan Savage. It was first published by Dutton in 1999. The book recounts the author's experiences during the process of adopting a child with his partner, Terry. Savage details for the reader his emotional states at various times during the adoption period and how it affected his life.
The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family is a non-fiction book by Dan Savage. It was first published by Dutton in 2005. The book delves into the author's experiences with his partner Terry Miller and their adopted son as they decide whether or not to get married. Throughout the course of the book, Savage incorporates an analysis of the debate over same-sex marriage within society.
It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living is a non-fiction compilation book, edited by Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller. It was published March 22, 2011 by Dutton. The book includes selections of essays inspired by the It Gets Better Project, founded by Savage. He decided to start the project after a series of incidents of suicide among LGBT youth. Individuals were encouraged to submit videos with a message of hope and optimism for teenagers who were victims of bullying due to their sexual orientation. Over 100 essays are contained in the book. Contributors include finance advisor Suze Orman; comedic writer David Sedaris; United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and President of the United States Barack Obama.
American author Dan Savage has written six books, op-ed pieces in The New York Times, and an advice column on sexual issues in The Stranger. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Savage began contributing a column, Savage Love, to The Stranger from its inception in 1991. By 1998 his column had a readership of four million. He was Associate Editor at the newspaper from 1991 to 2001, when he became its editor-in-chief, later becoming its editorial director in 2007.
In medieval Europe, attitudes toward homosexuality varied from region to region, determined by religious culture; the Catholic Church, which dominated the religious landscape, considered, and still considers, sodomy as a mortal sin and a "crime against nature". By the 11th century, "sodomy" was increasingly viewed as a serious moral crime and punishable by mutilation or death. Medieval records reflect this growing concern. The emergence of heretical groups, such as the Cathars and Waldensians, witnesses a rise in allegations of unnatural sexual conduct against such heretics as part of the war against heresy in Christendom. Accusations of sodomy and "unnatural acts" were levelled against the Order of the Knights Templar in 1307 as part of Philip IV of France's attempt to suppress the order. These allegations have been dismissed by some scholars.
Jameson Currier is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, critic, journalist, editor, and publisher.
Travis John Klune is an American author of fantasy and romantic fiction featuring gay and LGBTQ+ characters. His fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea is a New York Times best seller and winner of the 2021 Alex and Mythopoeic Awards. Klune has spoken about how his asexuality influences his writing. His novel Into This River I Drown won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance in 2014.
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy is a 2011 young adult novel written by Bil Wright and published by Simon and Schuster. The book tells the story of Carlos Duarte, a gay teenager who dreams of becoming a famous makeup artist.
Lev A. C. Rosen, also known as L. C. Rosen, is an American author.
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