quent Latin (italicized) give a pseudo-scholastic gloss to his effort.

The author makes many needed points, i.e.: "Few homosexuals are what they are because of their own choosing" (p. 79); or "But it is high time to discard the view that the homosexual's conduct excludes him from the protection of the community" (p. 67). He exposes police entrapment, politician's use of the homosexual as a whipping boy, the poor work of prison chaplains, and the role of the blackmailer. Yet he never quite gets the reader over the hump of the problem to where solutions or specific courses of action are forthcoming. Too often he concludes with "How this is to be brought about is another matter" (p. 35); or "All we can do is to suggest the problem" (p. 78).

We read sixteen pages under the title "What Is a Homosexual?" only to discover at the conclusion that the author offers no definition but is satisfied to let the reader draw his own conclusions from what has been said. While this is a valid form of writing, and I would favor it over a too narrow interpretation, it does seem the author has shirked his duty in not offering us his own answer. Likewise with the number of homosexuals. Nowhere does he suggest in actual figures the vastness of the homosexual community in this country. The best he can do is to write, "There are many more men of this bent than are commonly supposed" (p. 29). Only in the concluding chapter, "The Quest for Guiding Principles," do we get anything concrete and much of that has already been voiced in other publications.

I was especially interested in his two religious chapters but disappoint-

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT-The Review is ing countries. grateful for newspaper clippings and press cuttings received from all over the U. S. and England, sent in by subscribers regularly. These items help immeasur ably in keeping the magazine abreast with what is going on in English speak

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mattachine REVIEW

to find he did little more than present a few of the homosexuals' problems and to challenge the Church to pay them heed. There is little here to suggest that the homosexual, himself, has obligations to society and Church. I feel the author errs when he writes, for instance, "We are called upon to take the steps that seem necessary to relieve him (the homosexual) of most, if not all, of the burden that should never have been his" (p. 171). In his liberal approach the author has painted too one sided a picture and thus is in danger of turning away the very people who need to hear his message. This book will do little to cause the homosexual to pause and re-think his own behavior pattern or his social-religious obligations.

Gross' use of case studies is indicative of his many years of associa tion with Dr. Henry. This book is a positive contribution to better understanding of homosexuality and the homosexual, but the author has not done all that he is capable of doing.

INABILITY TO RECOGNIZE AND ACCEPT

THE OPEN SQUARE by Ford Clark. Fawcett Gold Medal, 1962. Reviewed by Gene Damon.

A good deal is said about the male homosexual who is unhappy and dissatisfied with being homosexual. Very little is said about the desperate plight of the man who cannot, or will not, accept the homosexuality which might well be his salvation. This unusually good paperback original handles this not uncommon dilemma very well. Keeler, the City Manager, is quite desperately in love with the Chief of Police, Ashton. His inability to recognize and accept this state of mind brings real destruction, not only to himself, but to the town, and nearly to Ashton. Unfortunately, many will read this as the story of a "nut," not seeing the meaning and needless unhappiness.

RIGHTEOUS HOSTILITY

THE CUSTARD BOYS, by John Rae. New York: Farrar Straus & Cudahy, 1961. 219 pp. $3.95. Reviewed by Noel I. Garde.

The "angry young bourgeois schoolboy" style pioneered by J. D. Salinger has by now cast its influence far and wide, and clearly beyond the Atlantic. This first novel by John Rae, a history teacher at Harrow, is a splendid example of the British version of the genre, which it will be difficult for other imitators to surpass.