The witty and intimate story of a young man’s search for fulfillment during the cultural and sexual revolution of 1970s New York City
Danny Slocum is a gay man in New York at a time of unprecedented sexual freedom. And yet Danny hasn’t had a satisfying encounter with another man in years, a plight that drives him to sex therapy. Virgil, Danny’s therapist, suggests that Danny work with another man, Joe, who has a similar problem, in the hopes that they can work out their anxieties together. The arrangement brings memories of Danny’s bygone relationships bubbling to the surface as he searches his past for where exactly things went wrong, coming to the realization that perhaps what he craves, above all else, is to be whole.
Part novel and part memoir, The Confessions of Danny Slocum is a heartfelt, deeply relatable look at sex, love, happiness, and their painful reverse.
George Whitmore (1946–1989) was born in Denver, Colorado, attended Bennington College, and was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, choosing to work at Planned Parenthood of New York City in lieu of serving in the military. Whitmore wrote three plays—The Caseworker, Flight/The Legacy, and The Rights—and two novels: The Confessions of Danny Slocum, published in 1980 by St. Martin’s Press, and Nebraska, published in 1987 by Grove Press. His last book, Someone Was Here: Profiles in the AIDS Epidemic, was an outgrowth of the author’s acclaimed New York Times Magazine article about the effect of AIDS on society, himself, and his friends.