---

Gay & Lesbian Interest / History / Architecture / Historic Preservation

---

 

A Passion to Preserve Gay Men as Keepers of Culture Will Fellows "Clearly Will Fellows has hit a nerve with many gay men, about their collecting and preserving from childhood on, often sacrificing friends, livelihoods, careers, and lovers to do so."—Darden A. Pyron, author of Liberace: An American Boy From large cities to rural communities, gay men have long been impassioned pioneers as keepers of culture: rescuing and restoring decrepit buildings, revitalizing blighted neighborhoods, saving artifacts and documents of historical significance. This penchant to preserve, though widely observed, is typically ignored or dismissed as a stereotypical gay cliché, even by many gay men themselves. A Passion to Preserve explores this authentic and complex dimension of gay men's lives by profiling early and contemporary preservationists from throughout the United States. This eye-opening and provocative book illuminates neglected facets of what it means to be gay and highlights contributions to the larger culture that gays are exceptionally inclined to make. Fellows's first book was the best-selling Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest. In A Passion to Preserve, Fellows expands upon the art of oral history he employed so successfully in Farm Boys. "The main strength of the project is the actual oral histories recorded here by the editor. Fellows is a wonderful preservationist himself; the book's impressive range of contributors speaks to the care and skill he brings to his work."—David Román, professor of English and American Studies, University of Southern California Review excerpts: A Passion to Preserve "Long before the make-better mavens of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy put their mark on mainstream culture, gay men have evinced a talent for collecting, organizing, renovating, and restoring that goes beyond mere gender stereotype. Fellows examines this tendency in this chronicle of queer pioneers in historic preservation, a concept at once original and yet so obvious it is surprising that no one has attempted it before."—Library Journal "Compelling...stories and first-person accounts from gay men across the country...provide a colorful picture of a landscape that has not really been painted until now."—The Advocate "Anyone who shares a love of the past will undoubtedly find this book inspirational andmoving. Will Fellows has done an excellent job of...recounting the exploits of past 'bachelor uncles' and 'temperamental men' who saved buildings from the wrecking ball of progress and urban renewal."—Bay Windows "Articulate paean to 'the culture-keeping impulse.'" —Richard Labonte, Book Marks "Gay men are very sensitive to beauty. It's perhaps a hackneyed stereotype, but I believe in it—I simply know it. It's an aesthetic capacity, an appreciation of beauty in old things, the grace of a lovely, older house with elegant details. And when gay men are interested in something they give it their all, tremendous amounts of creative energy and physical energy. Not many straight people would do for this house what we did for it." —Al Garland, from A Passion to Preserve For more reviews, click here. Will Fellows is a writer and educator who lives with his partner in Milwaukee. His first book, Farm Boys, was honored as a best book of 1996 by Esquire Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and as a bestseller of 1996 by The Advocate and Lambda Book Report.       Additional information is available for A Passion to Preserve. Contents | Preface | Individuals Profiled | Reviews | Events | Author | Index | Images for publicity For more information call Publicity Manager phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

May 2004 LC: 2003020531 HQ 280 pp. 6 x 9 ISBN 0-299-19680-1 Cloth $30.00 t To order, you can accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart by clicking on the bulleted lines below. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with MasterCard or Visa. Click here for further explanation of shopping cart feature. Never ordered from us before? Read this first.