OUT ON A LIMB

The veteran journalist collects his controversial views on sex, religion, politics, and plagues.

Sullivan, whose essays, reviews, articles, and blog posts have appeared in the New Republic (where he was an editor), the New York Times, New York magazine, and the Weekly Dish newsletter, gathers 60 pieces from the past three decades that serve as both a chronicle of his life and a record of significant transformations in American culture. Describing himself as having “a querulous, insistent curiosity that sometimes relishes the hostility it often provokes,” Sullivan is not surprised to have incited strong responses: “An essay insisting on the biological roots of masculinity enraged some feminists; my opposition to ‘hate crime’ legislation maddened my fellow gays; my account of the moment AIDS in America no longer qualified as a plague was denounced.” His attack on the use of torture by the Bush administration infuriated the right, just as his attack on critical race and gender theory incensed the left. As a gay man, Sullivan has lived through a sea change in attitudes about homosexuality and gender, from grudging allowances for domestic partnerships to the legalization of gay marriage. His own marriage, in 2007, seemed momentous. With mixed feelings, he observes the erosion of any “single gay identity, let alone a single look or style or culture.” He argues that “distinctive gayness” was “integral” to gay identity. “It helped define us not only to the world but also to ourselves,” he writes. “Letting go is as hard as it is liberating, as saddening as it is invigorating.” Testosterone therapy, which he began in 2000 as a result of being HIV-positive, made him viscerally aware of the surge of energy, aggression, lust, and anger that resulted from what he called the “He Hormone.” Other pieces reveal Sullivan’s thoughts on Christianity, the death of his beloved beagle, Princess Diana as a cultural icon, Obama as a beacon of hope, and, most recently, Covid-19.

Trenchant observations from an influential journalist.