A second book about "ONE" Magazine

Those of us present for last night's discussion of Masked Voices: Gay Men and Lesbians in Cold War America quibbled with some of author Craig M. Loftin's conclusions, which are surprisingly upbeat about gay life in the McCarthy era.

But we all concurred that Loftin has performed a real service by analyzing hundreds of letters sent by ordinary LGBT folk from across the United States and overseas to ONE Magazine, which existed from 1952 to 1967. However, we were disappointed that Loftin generally excerpts the letters instead of quoting them more fully.

Fear not!  It turns out Loftin has published a companion volume to that study, titled Letters to ONE: Gay and Lesbian Voices from the 1950s and 1960s, that gives those (generally anonymous) women and men their say. Like Masked Voices, it is a bit pricey, but I, for one, am convinced it will be worth it.