by Brad Benedict
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
Shirtless! The Hollywood Male Physique is one of the best coffee table books to come out in quite some time. Donald F. Reuter celebrates the male physique in all its glory from across the pages of history.
He begins his journey with 1920s Hollywood legend George O'Brien and spans the century to include the famous physiques of numerous other gorgeous icons. This book is his homage to the changing ideal of the male body type throughout the 20th century. It is complete with some of Tinseltown's favorite guys, such as Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg. It represents masculinities of each decade as well as being an informative source explaining the whats, whens, and whys corresponding to each ideal.
The silver screen has furnished some of the best bodies and offered viewers intimate looks into their public and private lives. Reuter leaves no room for doubt that he knows what he is doing in exploring the male figure. His work tracks the transformation of the male physique through time, from thin to toned and from toned to massive. The book exposes the relationships between the times, the male body form, and the rise of Hollywood icons and shows how increasing body exposure beckons a new era of stars willing to surpass their predecessors by revealing more and more skin.
In a current frame of reference, Shirtless! highlights the relationship between changing physiques and recent social issues surrounding male body image perception and obsession detailed in recent magazine articles.
This one is a great buy at $29.95, hardback, and containing 160 pages and 175 photos. It comes from Universe Publishing.
A book with an entirely different subject matter is An American Family from St. Martin's Press. This is the story of Jon and Michael Galluccio and their journey into parenthood, their struggle with the court system and their acceptance by their extended families of their new role as parents.
In 1997, Jon and Michael made history when they won a victory in the New Jersey Supreme Court and became the first unmarried couple to legally adopt a child. It set a precedent for all unmarried couples in the state and was a moral victory for Gays and Lesbians across the country because the Galluccios are also a same-sex couple.
The book also details Jon's anguished search for, and joyful discovery of, his own birth mother. It all began when the two men became foster parents to Adam, a premature baby born with HIV and addictions to heroin, marijuana, cocaine and alcohol. While nurturing the infant back to health, the Galluccios decided to adopt Adam knowing full well that as foster parents, the child could be taken from them at any time. But when they applied for adoption as an unmarried couple, the state refused to allow them to adopt the boy. Thus began their fight for the son they had rescued from death and grown to love.
Since adopting Adam, the Galluccios have also adopted Madison, a baby girl also born with HIV and her half-sister Rosa, a once-troubled teenager who has just become a mother herself. The strong family bond that Jon and Michael share with their children has redefined what it means to be a family that values love over convention.
This is a wonderful book and a very entertaining and enjoyable read. It is a beautiful story and one that should occupy a prominent place in every home where love abounds. It's a hardcover book, priced at $24.95, and contains 25 black and white photos and one 8-page black and white insert. This one is indeed a nice addition to any library.
Hostile Climate 2000 is a report on anti-Gay activity. It shows the reader where we are as a nation in the struggle for justice for all Americans. It illustrates the progress and the setbacks and also shows that there is much to do to have equality in sexual orientation.
The historic debate in the U.S. Senate over whether John Ashcroft had blocked the ambassadorial appointment of James Hormel because Hormel is Gay perfectly illustrates the Catch-22 that Gay men and Lesbians confront throughout America today. On the one hand, the more open discussion about Gay rights seems to signal greater public acceptance of Gays' quest for equality. But on the other, anti-Gay discrimination remains a deeply entrenched fact of life in our customs, institutions, and laws, and Gay rights opponents remain bitterly opposed to progress. At the same time that openly Gay Americans are winning election to public offices, it remains perfectly legal in 39 states for employers to fire employees simply for not being heterosexual.
This is a publication of People For the American Way Foundation, and it documents the cross-currents and reports incidents of anti-Gay bias nationwide and shows both the evolving trends in the struggle for equality and the depth and sources of the opposition to it. This is an invaluable tool for Gay rights advocates to educate leaders and lawmakers about the need for changes that will move this county ahead as a great nation.
The price is $15.
