ious and potent force, determining to an unknown extent the policies and actions of homosexual groups and through them the ideas and aspirations of millions of homosexuals in much of the West.'

Masters, not knowing, proceeds to wonder whether or not the I.C.S.E. is mysteriously infiltrating the fashion industry, defeminizing Western women, or removing illegal homosexuality from statute books. He could, of course, have bothered to find out, but why be annoyed with such irritating things as facts when it is so much more fun and a good deal easier to make up whatever stories come to mind? After all, making phone calls takes time and money; writing letters is also time-consuming and costs postage; and talking to the people who are actually involved might be dangerous, especially with all those perverts around. Besides, the fact that the organization is virtually impotent, if it exists at all, would spoil everything, for then it would be impossible to create a shocking exposé. Let us, instead give allegations, raise questions and consider their most fantastic implications without answering them, and throw in some hearsay from somebody who is not even a member, just to make it look authentic. By these methods, it is possible to cook up whatever stories one wishes, no matter how preposterous, about the I.C.S.E. and other European organizations.

Getting the truth is really not that difficult, and even if it were, it would be far better not to make any mention of anything which one is not ready to back up with concrete facts. This may be less glamorous, but is far more believable.

Masters then introduces us to Harvey, a conservative homosexual, who seems to be the author's main source of information about the American homophile movement. Being "conservative," he likes the Matta-

chine publications best of all, but has never been a participant in the Society or even a significant contributor. He is an interesting example of how dangerous it can be to use such a person as a source of information or even as a typical conservative homosexual, whatever that may mean. Aside from having "committed passive sodomy on the floor of a men's room at the railroad station at three o'clock in the morning," and being "detached from reality to an extent not covered by the phrase 'mildly eccentric,'" this is a person, real or imagined, on whom the author relies for his information in a large section of the book!

The Mattachine Society, One, Inc., and The Daughters of Bilitis are dealt with in the next few chapters. The break-up of the national organization of the Mattachine Society is mentioned, telling us how it stunned the homophile world and then adding how difficult it is to gauge what is happening within the organization and how hard it is to predict the future of Mattachine. All that Masters needed to do was to send fifteen dollars ($15.00) in check or money order to Mattachine's national office at 693 Mission Street in San Francisco. Not only would he have become a token member, but he would have received a quarterly newsletter called Interim, which is expressly designed to relate everything of interest that has been happening within the organization, complete with membership reports, recent happenings, and financial statements. He would have been able to acquaint himself with some of the important issues involved, which ultimately led to the dissolution of the local area councils.

Prior to the severing of the chapters from the national office, each chapter published a newsletter giving complete coverage about its activities. It seems evident that Mr. Masters either never heard of these newsletters and publications or did not