First published 2017
Armistead Maupin begins his memoir in conservative North Carolina, where he loses his virginity to another man at the site where Civil War shots first rang out. The son of a traditional lawyer realizes the South cannot contain him. He packs his Opel GT with his belongings and a Confederate ancestor's portrait, then hits the road seeking adventure. His journey takes him through a homoerotic Navy ceremony in Vietnam's jungles to San Francisco in the early 1970s. Maupin reflects on his search for what he calls his "logical family" rather than his biological one. He shares memories of his palm-reading grandmother who believed he was her artistic bachelor cousin reincarnated, and an awkward Oval Office conversation about girls with President Nixon. Through humor and honesty, Maupin chronicles the extraordinary people and situations that shaped him into an influential writer who would capture America's queer community evolution over four decades.
Genres: 20th-century, autobiography, memoir, biography-memoir, 21st-century, lgbt, gay
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: North Carolina, San Francisco, Vietnam
Period: 1970s, Civil War
304 pages · Hardcover · TW Adult