#3: In brief, author Solomon suggests the ingredients present in each of their lives that created the “fabulous potency” that propelled Stein and Capote into celebrity, while other gays in the public eye were censored. Stein was not only gay, but female and Jewish. The centerfold of photographs are not merely illustrative, but reinforce Solomon’s arguments by being presented in specific contexts, i.e., the young, lounging Capote by Manet’s Olympia (1865) and Theda Bara in Cleopatra (1917). Scholarly and deeply examined.

Read the full article.