The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture

by Les Wright and John P. De Cecco

The Bear Book brings together an impressive range of bear--usually big, hairy men who favor full-face beards and prefer to wear jeans and flannel shirts--viewpoints to explore this unique social and cultural phenomenon that stretches from America to western Europe to Australia On the personal level, you learn what beardom means to different people in their daily lives, and on a broader level, its cultural implications for not only the gay community,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560238909
• ISBN13: 9781560238904
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

If you're curious, buy it.

Good book for those in cultural studies, or someone curious about this subculture.

Dr. Bear..paging Dr. Bear...

While this book is heavy on history, it also reads like a college textbook into the history, culture, health and psychological aspect of the gay men who identify as "bears". Some of the chapters dragged, especially the ones dealing with the early 90's and the chat rooms and drama...but the ones that touched me were the personal coming out stories, and the men coming to terms with their bodies and attitudes in conservative America. Definatly a book that will stay on my shelf for many years to come.

Today's lecture...

For those interested in gay history and subculture, this is an invaluable book. This book provides a thorough reading of the anti-stereotypical gay male, but sometimes borders on over-analyzation..

the differences in bear & gay cultures

the bear book. This book has provided info into the bear world, futhermore bears are different from the gay culture the image that bears have are hairy bearded and usually heavy in my thoughts. i think of a bear as a hairy heavy bearded man!! very natural and very simple too. The straight culture accepts bears as a burly type men who dont think as gay..

a good if slightly biased look at this gay male culture

I myself am classified as a cub. I found this to be a very interesting and informative book on how the culture was thought to begin and why it also gave a good insite into the thought's behind it and other people i have let borrow this book have said that they like theway it was set out but there weren't enough personal experiances to make it more involving. I felt that the book was biased to the downfall of all bear clubs in australia exept the one in Brisbane. All in all a good read and informative on a historical sense. It is good to see an alternative to the usual boring historical books out there.