A collection of critical essays from award-winning author Dorothy Allison about identity, gender politics, and queer theory, now with a new preface Lambda Award and American Library Association's Stonewall Book Award–winning author Dorothy Allison is known for her bold and insightful writing on issues of class and sexuality. In Skin, she approaches these topics through twenty-three impassioned essays that explore her identity-from her childhood in a poor family in South Carolina to her adult life as a lesbian in the suburbs of New York-and her sexuality. In "Gun Crazy," Allison delves into what guns meant to the men and women around her when she was growing up. She gives insight into the importance of speaking professionally about sexuality in "Talking to Straight People," and articulates the danger women feel about revealing their personal desires, even within feminist communities, in "Public Silence, Private Terror." Allison is fearless in her discussion of many social and political taboos. Compelling and raw, Skin is an honest and intimate work-perfect for Dorothy Allison fans and new readers alike.
"Impassioned, personal and highly intelligent, Allison's collection of published writings and addresses from the past decade examines issues of class and sexuality through the intricate lenses of autobiography and the literary experience."
Publishers Weekly
"The author of the National Book Award Finalist Bastard Out of Carolina and Trash, a collection of short stories, has written a book of essays that are at once political, autobiographical and revolutionary. Underneath it all runs the bittersweet story of Allison's journey to wholeness, as she moves to understand and embrace all the disparate parts of herself."
Los Angeles Times
"Allison has assembled a nourishing compilation of articles and essays about being 'queer in a world that hates queers . . . poor [in] a world that despises the poor' and a passionate writer and lover of literature. Written during the past 11 years, the two dozen pieces cover territory that has become central to Allison's writing: the 'deep and messy waters of class and sexual desire,' prejudice,
