Herdt, Gilbert. Same Sex, Different Cultures: Gays and Lesbians Across Cultures.. Westview: HarperCollins. June 1997. c.224p. permanent paper. index. LC 97-1839. ISBN 0-8133-3163-3. $26.
[AUTOBIOGRAPHY]

This ambitious volume tries but misses. Seeking to give a worldwide overview of his topic, Herdt (Children of Horizons, LJ 7/93) succeeds only in providing a cursory introduction to the gay and lesbian culture in the United States. No new information is provided, just a rehashing of much of what was published a decade ago. Herdt gives "developing countries" short shrift and and covers well-documented cultures like Greece and some in Asia a mere four pages each, though he is to be commended for including age-and role-structured homoerotic relations in the few areas of the world he decides to cover. Lesbians will be especially disappointed. Serious readers would do better with more substantive works like Bret Hinsch's Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual in China (LJ 9/1/91). Public libraries will want, but research collections may want to pass on this one.

Kevin M. Roddy, University of Hawai'i at Hilo