National Book Award Non Fiction Winner
Becoming a Man
by Paul Monette
Summary
A lyrical, often anguished memoir of growing up gay in midcentury America, charting the author's long journey from closeted prep school striver to openly gay writer and activist. Monette wrote in the shadow of AIDS, which had already taken his partner, and his prose carries the urgency of testimony. The book broke ground as a work of explicitly queer life writing that won mainstream honors.
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Historical Context & Significance
One of the first major award winners to tackle the LGBTQ+ experience with such raw intensity; it remains a foundational text of queer memoir.