Sex-Crime Panic, by Neil Miller

(pb; 2002: non-fiction)

From the back cover:

"In 1955, following the sexual assault and brutal murder of two children in Sioux City, Iowa, police, in an attempt to quell public hysteria, arrested 20 men who authorities never claimed had anything to do with the crimes. Labeled as sexual psychopaths under a state law that lumped homosexuals with child molesters and murderers, the men were sentenced to a mental hospital until deemed 'cured.' Neil Miller's carefully researched account shows how the paranoia of the McCarthy era destroyed the lives of gay men in the American heartland. A gripping story of murder and anti-gay hysteria, Sex-Crime Panic presents a dark and strange chapter in the history of postwar America."

Review:

This excellent non-fiction book focuses on a facet of "1950s paranoia" (which mirrors, in many ways, our current political and social climate) that often gets overlooked in the mainstream media.

Sex-Crime doesn't read like a stodgy historical recounting of a by-gone era; it reads like a reader-engaging, fast-moving overview of societal stresses and biases, as well as a necessary reminder of what mistakes we, as a nation, shouldn't revisit.

Timely work: worth owning, this.

Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division, by Jon Ginoli

(pb; 2009: rock 'n' roll memoir)

From the back cover:

"Deflowered is Jon Ginoli's journey of self-discovery, musical passion, and drive to become the founding member of Pansy Division, the first out and proud punk rock band to make the national scene. We follow the band from their inception in the early '90s in San Francisco, to their search for a music label, and their current status as indie rock icons. We see the highs - touring with Green Day - and the lows - homophobic fans - of striving for acceptance and success in the world of rock. Featuring behind-the-scenes photographs and replete with the requisite tales of sex, drugs, groupies, band fights and label battles, this rollicking memoir is also an impassioned account of staying true to their artistic vision of queer rock 'n' roll."

Review:

Engaging, humorous, and fast-burn read that's more focused than most rock memoirs. More than another self-absorbed "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" make-cash book, this has progressive political passion to it, lending itself to a bigger, necessary movement.

Fun, thoughtful, important work - worth owning if you're a rock/pop punk memoir collector, a proponent of the LGBT movement or a Bay Area resident.

If you're a California resident, and interested in seeing the band live, they're playing two California shows next month - one in Berkeley (Friday, January 27, 2012) and another in Los Angeles (Sunday, January 29).