Boone Books

Too bad that the editors of this collection have featured themselves more prominently than the excellent writers who contributed to this "anthology" and aren't even featured. If you glanced at the cover, you'd never know that the book includes such well known writers as Sue Ellen Case, George Chauncey, and John Rechy, whose lucid essay is a highlight of this collection that all too often bogs down in "queer-theorizing" jargon, relieved by some excellent vintage photographs, drawings, and reproductions of posters and relevant documents. More of the same editorial attention might have been applied to some of the dense pieces.

I found this book at a used book store. I have seen better books written by elementary students. The rhyming schemes in the book are juvenile and are very forced. The worst part are the illustrations. They look like they are done by, again, elementary students. This looks like something that was a school project and somehow got published. Had one of the 16 people in the acknowledgements (why do you have to acknowledge 16 people for a poorly written book?) come forward and saved Melvin Boone Jr. the embarrassment of this mess.

When I traveled in the Soviet Union, I had the opportunity to visit a couple of elementary schools. I was surprised to see the hallways lined with posters of mushroom clouds, gas masks, and emergency procedures. The Soviet era propaganda was crude and obvious. It was sad to see that it was targeted towards children.

Not since then have I seen such an egregious attempt at siezing the minds of young children.

This book is poorly done. The art is hackneyed.

The book was brand new, just as stated, and in perfect condition! And a great price too!