"In his award-winning In Search of Gay America, Neil Miller dispelled stereotypes with his evocative portraits of gays and lesbians in small cities and rural towns across the country. Now, in Out in the World, he takes us on a fascinating and unique tour through even less-charted territory: the current state of gay and lesbian life in twelve countries around the globe. " ""This is a volume of reportage," Miller writes, "an examination of lives of gays and lesbians and the societies that formed them, reflected them - and were often (but not always) at odds with them. " We travel with him to Egypt, where the Western notion of gay identity is an alien concept but where strict separation of the sexes has fostered a long history of homosexuality. We visit Japan, where lesbians and gays are not so much discriminated against as politely ignored. We stop off in Denmark, where same-sex marriage is legal, and go to Czechoslovakia and the former East Germany, where gays and lesbians cope with new freedoms and economic dislocations following the collapse of communism. Whether he's talking to lesbian Maoris in New Zealand or gay South African gold miners, Miller captures the vivid, absorbing, and often inspiring stories of women and men who are simply trying to live their lives, often in a climate of repression or opposition. " "From Thailand to Argentina to Australia to Hong Kong and beyond, Miller addresses such questions as: Just what does "gay" or "lesbian" mean? How relevant is the dichotomy we in the West set up between "homosexual" and "heterosexual"? What are the preconditions that make it possible for individuals to live an openly gay or lesbian life, and how has gay liberation, feminism, and AIDS affected countries outside the United States? Out in the World is a book destined to be a modern classic, a globetrotting account that provides valuable insight into the social, cultural, religious, and political factors that influence the formation of gay and lesbian sexuality and community. "--Jacket.