Looking for Brothers

by Michael Rowe

From the savage murder of a eighteen-year-old street youth far from home, to the author's search for the meaning of chosen family on the rust colored beaches of Prince Edward Island, Looking For Brothers presents a gay man's unique and captivating view of Canada- a native son's look at the culture and citizens who have shaped our consciousness. Spanning an eleven year period, these essays by award-winning journalist Michael Rowe examine, with a startling blend of objectivity and subjectivity, the places that society has allocated to gay men, and the places gay men have claimed for themselves: physically, emotionally, sexually, and geographically. They unflinchingly explore the carved in stone truisms cherished both by straight and gay society, in an attempt to dismantle the limiting stereotypes each group holds of themselves and the other, and to find the place where the two cultures meet. On themes including gay men in sports and the military; same-sex marriage; narcissism and the cult of male beauty; AIDS and the euthanasia debate; pornography and the limits of censorship; family, chosen and otherwise; the questionable merits of the ghetto; and a yeasty celebration of liking straight men; Looking For Brothers brings together for the first time Rowe's most acclaimed gay-themed writing. With this collection, Michael Rowe secures his position as one of Canada's most thoughtful and provocative jounalist-essayists, and one of our foremost gay writers.

Genres: LGBT

196 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Rowe is an independent international journalist who has lived in Beirut, Havana, Geneva, and Paris.

His work has appeared in the National Post, The Globe & Mail, The United Church Observer and numerous other publications. He has been a finalist for both the Canadian National Magazine Award and the Associated Church Press Award in the United States. The author of several books, including Writing Below the Belt, a critically acclaimed study of censorship, pornography, and popular culture, and the essay collections Looking For Brothers and Other Men's Sons, which won the 2008 Randy Shilts Award for Nonfiction, he has also won the Lambda Literary Award. He is currently a contributing writer to The Advocate and a political blogger for The Huffington Post.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Charles McCaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book in Vancouver BC back in 1999. Re-reading it 20 years later I find that not much has changed in the community - the same hopes and fears and prejudices. But as a writer now myself, I find the stories and the telling of stories comforting.