On Christopher Street: life, sex, and death after Stonewall

Preface : becoming real

Part 1. Morning in gay America (1970-1980). Christopher Street magazine; Dead souls at the The New Yorker : a puzzling case; Lovers : the story of two men; "Everything is only ten years old" : a conversation with Felice Picano; Decent passions : real stories about love; Blue moves : conversation with a male porn dancer

Part 2. Beginning to count ourselves (1980-1983). Archaeologist of the present : Michel Foucault in New York City; Gay politics and its premises : sixteen propositions; Sixteen propositions : an exchange; Scaring the horses, or, The question of gay identity; Who are we? : what do we want? : How best might we get it?

Part 3. The state of the tribe (1983-1987). Gay pride and survival in the Eighties; The state of gay criticism; Oedipus revised : David Leavitt's The lost language of cranes; Paragraph 175, or, How dark can it get?; A culture in a crucible

Workaday publishing, or, Hegel's Ernst (1985-1988); Further down the road; The universal voice of gay writers; A conversation with Allen Barnett; How to review a gay novel; Chasing the crossover audience and other self-defeating strategies; Editing fiction and the question of "political correctness"

Part 5. On the raft of the Medusa (1988-1890). The death of a generation; An intellectual ambush; A quilt of many colors; Preaching to the choir; The present moment; A letter to Ed White

Part 6. In the gathering darkness an age of heroes (1991-1996). Eulogy for Allen Barnett; Honoring Richard Rouillard; Eulogy for Randy Shilts; Necessary bread : gay writing comes of age; Stonewall : from event to idea; Three takes on John Preston; Food for live : a dinner party in two hours; Turning ... turning : the boys in the band; A mouthful of air : the case of Larry Kramer; Key West seminar

Part 7. Reconsiderations (1996-2014). Hymn to the gym; AIDS books : where we've been, where we're going; Affectionate men; Last letter to Paul Monette

Afterword : looking back.