This is a sweet, wonderful, easily readable book about one man's life before and after Stonewall.

First-person stories about being gay can be boring, especially if they've very confessional in nature. Kantrowitz thankfully avoids that. He speaks about the inside politics of gay rights organizing, and relationships with family, lovers and friends, without bitterness....

One of things I found most interesting in Under The Rainbow was the portrayal of Arnie's mother. Like Arnie, I'm Jewish, and personally, I've come to find the doting, ...nurturing "greenhorn" yiddishe mama figure in literature two-dimensional and unrealistic. In contrast, Arnie's portrayal of his mother is that of a complex, intelligent, resourceful woman tormented by being of two mindsets, that of New York City and "the shtetl". ...

Under the Rainbow also explores the dynamics of poverty in the Jewish community, which is a refreshing change from the usual first-generation-tailor-second-generation-doctor immigrant success story.

I'm also gay, and this book make me grateful for the freedoms I have now. I hope that more gay people in their twenties read this. Knowing one's own history is important.

I don't have any harsh criticisms of this book. Would every gay person see themselves in this book? Probably not, but it's ridiculous to presume that all gay people should. Some readers would probably be rankled by Kantrowitz's left-wing politics (though others would say he isn't radical enough), others by the S and M, others by not seeing their specific ethnic groups represented. You can't please everyone. How much can you fit in one book that you can still carry around?

The only reason I don't give it more than four stars is that I'm not sure any book is perfect.

Arnie Kantrowitz was my College Professor, and it was there that he told us about his book. I purchased it, and I was floored. I am a heterosexual female, and I felt like I knew what he was going through. His memories; funny, sad, and always vivid, touched me as few books ever have. Though I have not seen him in several years, the lessons I learned in his class, and his book, guide me today. His book is about tolerance, acceptance, and self-love, something we can all use a little of. Wherever you are, Professor Kantrowitz, I love you!

This coming out story should be required reading! To all those who thought the "classic" coming out story was John Reid's BEST LITTLE BOY IN THE WORLD, all I can say is, you must read UNDER THE RAINBOW. Arnie Kantrowitz is open and honest about his life in a way Reid never attempted. Reading this book, I was frequently moved to tears as I recognized in his story the same experiences I had had in my own coming-out process. It is a shame that this book is not better known; it is the best book of its kind that I have ever read. Don't miss this one!

I can't imagine a publisher actually being interested in this story. It is completely lacking in literary form. It simply runs as an historical time-line of one man's short life as a 'full-time queen.' Melson grew up in middle america as a fat little boy. He chronicles his metamorphisis from fat kid to the ideal 'gay buff boy.' ... I'm not so sure this is the typical gay male's story and Melson managed to carve out a pretty rich life (literally and figuartively) trading on his looks until he was struck down by the tragedy of AIDS. We've read this story with much more complexity, richness and depth in the works of Paul Monette and so many other excellent writers. Should have been given out as a diary to loved ones. I don't see it's entertainment, literary or historical value. Wasted time, wasted life!

James Melson's memoir provides an insider view of the legendary-to-some, shocking-to-others sex-drug-disco scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In contrast to the novels produced at the time, _Golden Boy _has a protagonist who exists by day as well as by night, and even tries to establish a career. The book provides insight into the little-understood phenomenon of sponsoring the young and pretty, even when they refuse to put out. The ugly duckling boy from Dubuque, Iowa becomes first a Minneapolis model and then is passed on to well-connected New Yorkers who help him become an investment banker, the prorotypical occupation of the greedy Reagan era. Didn't he almost have it all? Alas, the author died of AIDS before the book appears. The posthumous memoir comes framed by substantial analyses by Larry Mass and Arnie Kantrowitz that I find more interesting (and markedly better-written) than the narrative they frame.

This is an intersting autobiography especially if you are interested in the 1970's party scene in NYC. The adventures he has & famous people he meets just by being good looking are astonishing. This is kind of a gay "Alice in Wonderland" with the young gay character seeing and experiencing all that a big city has to offer a cute young gay man.

James is not a likable character in the book and he honestly doesn't try to be. Some of his observations are predjudiced, self loathing and narcissistic however they were his "truth" as he lived it.

This story ends abruptly and feels unfinished. Partially because that is the truth when you die so young. However it is also because he really never accepts his faults or gains compassion for others. (despite one story depicting it)

The foreward gives away too much but the afterword is essential to put Jame's story in perspective.

CALIFORNIA SCREAMING is a much funnier and livlier book on this same topic - altho it is fiction.

I would recommend this only if you are a big fan of autobiography or you want to see young gay glitterati in NYC during the 70's. (Studio 54 etc)