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Brotherhood: Gay Life in College Fraternities Shane L. Windmeyer (Ed.) Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2005, 298 pages, $16.95 (softcover).
Brotherhood: Gay Life in College Fraternities is an important addition to the small number of works detailing lives of nonheterosexual college students. Shane L. Windmeyer has contributed a number of those works, focusing specifically on gay, lesbian and bisexual members of Greek life (e.g., Windmeyer & Freeman, 1998, 2000). One of his goals for this book was to demonstrate changes in fraternity life experiences since the publication of Out on Fraternity Row (Windmeyer & Freeman, 1998), "as well as challenges that still exist today" (p. xvi). Evidence of acceptance of and exhibitions of brotherhood toward nonheterosexual fraternity members are the changes Windmeyer highlighted; indeed, this book offers several examples of inclusion into and development from gay men's membership in national fraternities, including newer national gay fraternities.
Windmeyer's collection of the recollections of gay fraternity men "delves deeper into issues of sexuality and male friendship" than his previous edited collections, "and reveals the truth behind the premise of brotherhood" (p. xvi). The contributors depict the broad range of postsecondary cultures; they hail from across the United States, including schools large and small, public and private. There is also a greatly increased inclusion of voices from diverse ethnicities, and readers searching for such representations will find them in the reflections...