Susan Ackerman, a respected biblical scholar who currently chairs the religious studies department at Dartmouth College, brings to her study of the David and Gilgamesh narratives two important qualities: a knowledge of ancient languages that allows her to explore the emotional coloring and sexual associations of key words, and a thorough grounding in contemporary gender theory, which allows her to negotiate the essentialist-constructionist debate concerning the evolution of gay identity.

LEV RAPHAEL was one of the first writers to contemplate the intersection of being openly gay and being openly Jewish, and has now published two new books on the topic. For those not familiar with his short story collection of 1990, Dancing on Tisha b’Av (whose title was a play on the concept of fasting on holy day), Secret Anniversaries of the Heart is a wonderful introduction to this writer’s world. About ten of the 25 stories are reprinted from Dancing on Tisha b’Av.

… Let’s Shut Out the World, a collection of essays, stories, and other short works arranged more-or-less chronologically to come together as a kind of memoir and autobiography. Most of the pieces have appeared in other publications and in anthologies such as the popular His and Flesh and the Word series.

… this is a remarkably dry-eyed journal, which jumps between entries written in 1992, when Katan was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in her right breast, and those written ten years later, when she was diagnosed with cancer in her other …

… Robert Hofler’s cultural biography of [Henry] Willson focuses heavily on his greatest known creation, Rock Hudson, but the book also tells a story about the Hollywood system in a bygone era, in a sense setting the story straight about gay Hollywood.

Willson is a figure worthy of a biography in part because of his key role in shaping the careers of many stars … As a star maker, Willson “invented” the Hollywood hunk and its other great incarnation, the teen idol, exemplified in his creation of Tab Hunter.

Hunter tells his own version of the story in his new memoir …

In part, it is the life of a gay celebrity. Rorem came of age in the years after World War II. He was a gifted composer, … [and]

Now we have his Selected Letters. …