Read as a curiosity only. Although written by a lesbian (Marijane Meaker) it adopts the stance that homosexuality is a sickness that perhaps in some cases can be cured. In one chapter, it says it's always the parents' fault. From time to time, the author's own voice is probably sneaking through, since the overall tone of the book is sympathetic, but it is a hopeless mishmash of outmoded theories and case studies. One whole chapter--the most frightening one--does recount each of the 48 states' (yes, the book is that old) laws against "unnatural acts" and the like. In Georgia, homosexuality could be punished by life in prison, for instance. Perhaps it does say something about the public's curiosity that this book could be published alongside Gold Medal novels by the likes of John D. MacDonald! Meaker also wrote pulp novels, some with lesbian themes, as Vin Packer, and highly successful children's books as M.E. Kerr. She was also Patricia Highsmith's lover for two years. Quite a life--and she's still going, over 90 years old at the time of this review. ( )

The entire time I was reading this I was appalled, oddly fascinated and deeply sad. The only reason I can see the value of this still being available (at least as it is in ebook format) is that it serves as an unwelcome, but very necessary, reminder of just how bad attitudes toward gays and lesbians were in the not so far away past. It is not that they cannot still be bad (they can, of course!) What makes it so different than today, though, is that these attitudes were just so incredibly warped in their badness and so alarmingly misguided and ignorant reading about them can absolutely chill your blood.

I have often found myself (because I have been there, having been old enough to still live in a time when being gay was considered a 'sickness') on the self-hating end of the spectrum of being gay, but thankfully those days are mostly over. I recommend this book not because I like it, but because it is a relic that needs to be read if only to remind ourselves of how far we have come and that while things still need to improve even more, we are much better off than we were. ( )