My Queer War (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780374532758)

A powerful story of sexual awakening during the Second World War, My Queer War, from the noted memoirist and critic James Lord tells the story of a young man's exposure to the terrors, dislocations, and horrors of armed conflict.

In 1942, a timid, inexperienced twenty-one-year-old Lord reports to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to enlist in the U.S. Army. His career in the armed forces takes him to Nevada, California, Boston, England, and, eventually, France and Germany, where he witnesses firsthand the ravages of total war on Europe's land and on its people. Along the way he comes to terms with his own sexuality, experiences the thrill of first love and the chill of disillusionment with his fellow man, and in a moment of great rashness makes the acquaintance of the world's most renowned artist, who will show him the way to a new life.

My Queer War is a rich and moving record of one man's maturation in the crucible of the greatest war the world has known. If his war is queer, it is because each man's experience is strange in its own way. His is a story of universal significance and appeal, told by a wry and eloquent observer of the world and of himself.

Author: James Lord
ISBN-10: 0374532753
ISBN-13: 9780374532758
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
Language: English
Published: 05/10/2011
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times Book Review 07/24/2011 pg. 24