[audiobook] The Coherence of EU Regional Policy: Contrasting Perspectives on the Structural Funds (Regions and Cities) by From Routledge at Arts-Photography

Review

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful. RemarkableBy Kevin KillianAt first I was reading this book rather grudgingly due to what I perceived as its flaw; the almost total absence of West Coast-based artists among his case studies. In fact I still dont know why that would be; the book is about "Modern American Culture" not "Modern Upper East Side Culture;" nevertheless there it is; and whats here is almost bewilderingly good in all the best ways. It takes up a topic you thought you knew all about; and it brings to light the documents themselves that force you to see the whole "conspiracy" in a different light.AN IMAGINED CONSPIRACY shows us the intricate web of enemies any gay artist had to deal with in the 1940s and the 1950s; and perhaps in response the art of the men in question became more and more patriotic and American. Thornton Wilders "Our Town" was praised for its universal qualities. Rock Hudson became the most manly and appealing of all movie stars; while Aaron Copland saw his composition "Fanfare for the Common Man" become a second national anthem. The most riveting and heterosexually erotic musical; "West Side Story" was composed by an entire troupe of gay artists including Arthur Laurents; Leonard Bernstein; and Stephen Sondheim. Sherry shows us how the State Department and other proponents of American imperialism cynically pushed forward these cultural products as weapons in the Cold War with Russia and the hated Red Menace of communism; and until such time as these tactics ceased to matter; the artist were protected to a certain extent from public exposure. Then in the sixties and seventies; all of their reputations collapsed: their American-ness had become too middlebrow; and besides the general public was now on to an idea of gay artists as being part of a homosexual conspiracy in which one hand was constantly washing the other or jerking the other off. "Hom;" for homosexual; "intern;" for international; and Samuel Barber perhaps got it worst; due to the international; or unAmerican nature of his longtime relationship with the Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti.The books climax occurs during the erection of the new Metropolitan Opera House in the mid-sixties and the opening night performance of Barbers ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA with Leontyne Price. The critics tore it apart; despite their previous acclaim for Barbers various works; and the thesis is that they felt free to attack him for his role in the so-called "homintern." Going further; Professor explains that Susan Sontag siccd on the dogs by her treatment of Barber in her famous "Notes on Camp." You dont have to know anything about the private life of the creator; opined Sontag (ironically enough; since she went to such pains to keep her own so hidden) to know that Barbers VANESSA is a huge piece of camp from beginning to end. Indeed the theorization of camp proved to be something of a disaster for gay artists; for it gave scornful straight critics one more stone to fling at us; from now on anything could be dismissed as "campy."There should be an anthology of the unbelievable articles that Sherry quotes from; by Gene Marine; Norman Podhoretz; Midge Decter; Anna Frankenheimer; Joseph Epstein ("If I had the power to do so;" his famous Harpers essay starts off; "I would wish homosexuality off the face of this earth"). Of course its still happening today; but now we just call it free speech.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. An intriging history of an ideaBy MichaelGay Artists in Modern American Culture is a well-researched look at the history of an idea: that an organized group of gay males had overtaken American culture; high and low; and was using it to undermine American values at home and Americas standing abroad. The book is full of insights that may surprise the uninitiated; for example; the idea that the "closet" is a mostly 60s-era creation that gay men were already out of during the 20s and 30s. The sheer number of gay men on the list of mid-20th century American artists is also astonishing - nearly every major composer and most of the playwrights; a good number of visual artists and a healthy smattering of authors; architects; and social critics. Also notable; the book exposes how views once confined to arcane psychoanalytic theory slowly entered the mainstream; both right and left; which distorted the publics previously condescending; but not vicious; views on gay men (and women; to an extent). Its a complicated; but truly new (for me) explanation of history.Despite these strengths; the book disappoints on a few levels. One; it suffers from the defect of most social histories: to discuss general trends and other abstractions precisely requires a new and jargon-filled language. Also; to do so can require you to skip other real examples in the service of your general thesis; leading to some eye-glazing passages. I say this with the huge caveat of having only skimmed the chapter "Barber at the Met" - an entire chapter on a real example. Lastly; once the book enters the 1980s; the author is clearly not discussing his expertise and most of the ideas are rather banal and no longer focusing on artists as much as an ill-defined gay culture. That said; the book is worth checking out; especially for its many pithy quotes and its dissection of the McCarthy-era "Lavender Scare."7 of 11 people found the following review helpful. shooting down straw menBy SWAMP FOXI found very little to like about this book.First; the focus is not on "gay artists" but on a few gay composers and musicians; includingAaron Copland; Samuel Barber; Leonard Bernstein; and Giancarlo Menotti. The discussion of these individuals is incredibly repetitious.Second; the book is based on elevating ridiculous and outmoded ideas; such as that there was some kind of conspiracy of gays to promote themselves at the expense of straight artists; and that gays were tolerated because of the need of Cold War Washington to demonstrate its superiority in all areas; including the arts. The idea is bogus. Sherry is something of an expert on the Cold War (he won a Bancroft Prize) and is far afield here.Third; Sherrys modus operandi is to quote extensively from dated books by gays and homophobes and then to shoot down his straw men with his own brilliant critiques. There is no reason why anyone should care about these ridiculous writers 20-40 years later; much less about Sherrys ripostes. The book is therefore heavy on impenetrable jargon.The only tolerable part of the book is a chapter on composer; Samuel Barber; but why Sherry thinks it matters that Barber composed a very bad opera; "Anthony and Cleopatra;" for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera building in 1996 escapes me. At least the chapter on Barber is a straight forward story free of the empty rhetoric that Sherry finds so compelling.If you have not lived through the decades when being gay was considered a mental illness; orhad to deal with petulant attacks on gays by ignorant people such as Midge Dictor and Arthur Schlesinger; Jr.; I suppose you might learn something from the book; but there are better books on the same topics.