Being Homosexual: Gay Men and Their Development

Isay (psychiatry, Cornell and Columbia) addresses himself both to his professional colleagues and to gay men who wish to understand more fully the dynamics of their own development. He differs sharply with orthodox psychoanalysis in rejecting the categorical classification of homosexuality per se as pathological. Instead, he insists--on the basis of his clinical experience--that homosexuality is both constitutional and the natural end point of psychosexual development for some. Isay focuses on the influences of an ``early erotic attachment to the father'' on the course of adult gay male sexuality. An important work, radically different in its assumptions and conclusions from many others on this topic. Highly recommended.-- James Michael MacLeod, Library of Congress.