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Young Man from the Provinces
A Memoir
by Alan Helms
ISBN: 0571198805
ISBN-13: 9780571198801
Format: Hardcover
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Summary
This is a memoir by Alan Helms, who was reared in Indianapolis by his father, an alcoholic, and his mother, who was victimized and abused. Helms left for Columbia University in 1955, where he discovered the pre-Stonewall gay world and took on modeling and acting jobs. Traveling with the rich and arty, Helms was ultimately miserable: bulimic, drug-dependent, sexually unfulfilled, he ultimately broke down and moved to Boston, where he underwent therapy with Robert Coles. Finally healthy and able to confront the abuse of his past, Helms went on to a teaching career in New England.
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Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Published date: 1995
Size: 6.5 x 9.75 inches
Weight: 1 pounds
Publisher's Notes
Gay life in New York City in the 1950s and '60s was an entirely different world from today. Intensely secretive and desperately determined to stay that way, its action took place behind the unmarked doors of bars and in apartments where the shades were always drawn. Underlying the frenetic living and high hilarity was a sense of shame that was inevitable during a time when shock treatment and lobotomies were considered acceptable "cures" for homosexuality. In Young Man from the Provinces, Alan Helms tells his story of those times. Escaping from a painful midwestern adolescence to the scholarly refuge of Columbia University, Alan threw himself headlong into New York's gay world. Denied a Rhodes scholarship because of his sexual orientation, he turned his back on academia and became a successful model and stage actor, moving in glamorous circles whose members included Anthony Perkins, Stephen Sondheim, Marlene Dietrich, Noel Coward, Leonard Bernstein, and Edward Albee. Alan attended glittering parties, traveled around the world with his lover, and spent summers on Fire Island immersed in the company of young, beautiful men. After starting a new life in Boston in the early 1970s, Alan realized that the gay social world was changing drastically and that he was facing middle age by himself. He subsequently battled drug abuse and severe depression, but his biggest battle was his struggle for self-acceptance and his attempt to build a better life. His success helped him remain strong as he faced his mother's death from cancer in the 1980s and the deaths of many of his friends and former lovers from AIDS - more than eighty and still climbing.
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Young Man from the Provinces: A Memoir
Helms, Alan
Gordonsville, Virginia, U.S.A.: Faber & Faber, 1995. PO red penciled price on FEP top corner, erased and slightly visible. Could be penciled over for future re-sale. Binding tight, pages clean.. Assumed 1st Edition. Cloth. Very Good to Fine*/Very Good to Fine*. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾". Hard Cover. ( more information) Offered by Way Station Books & Stuff (United States)
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2)
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Young Man from the Provinces: A Gay Life before Stonewall
Alan Helms
Faber & Faber. Used - Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! ( more information) Offered by Better World Books (United States)
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3)
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Young Man from the Provinces
Helms, Alan
Gordonsville, Virginia, U.S.A.: Faber & Faber. Fine-/Fine DJ/Fine. 1995. First Edition. Hard Cover. 0-571-19880-5 Subtitle: "A gay life before Stonewall." spine slightly cocked. . ( more information) Offered by Bookhawk (United States)
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4)
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Young Man from the Provinces: A Gay Life Before Stonewall
Helms, Alan
Boston: Faber & Faber, 1995. Z6 - DJ is mylar protected. DJ has light wrinkling on the edges and very light shelf wear otherwise fine. Book is slightly cocked and very light shelf wear otherwise fine. Writing with humor, insight, and brutal candor, but above all from the perspective of a survivor, Alan Helms reveals in Young Man from the provinces a fascinating, vanished world.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. ( more information) Offered by Bookmarc's (United States)
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5)
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Young Man From the Provinces: A Gay Life Before Stonewall
Helms, Alan
Boston: Faber & Faber, 1995. 206 pages; dj few scuffs; title page missing. 1Copy. ISBN: 0571198805. Cloth. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. alan helms, gay men, new york city, male models, actors, communities,. ( more information) Offered by Highway Book Shop (Canada)
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Price: CAD $15.00
($12.60)
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6)
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Young Man from the Provinces : A Gay Life before Stonewall
Helms, Alan
Boston : Faber and Faber, 1995. 1st Edition. Description: x, 206 p. ; 24 cm. Subjects: Helms, Alan. Gay men--New York (State)--New York--Biography. Male models--New York (State)--New York--Biography. An exceptional copy; fine in an equally fine dw. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. ( more information) Offered by MW Books Ltd. (Ireland)
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7)
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Young Man from the Provinces: A Memoir
HELMS, Alan
Boston: Faber & Faber, 1995 Gore Vidal, Edmund White, Terrence McNally dj blurbs.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. ( more information) Offered by SYLVESTER & ORPHANOS (United States)
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