Promotional Information

The first book to look beyond the brutal events toward the broad implications of Matt Shepard's story. Loffreda shows how the politics of sexuality unfolds in a remote and sparsely populated area of the country.

Table of Contents

Preface Author's Note Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six A Note on Sources Acknowledgments

About the Author

Beth Loffreda is assistant professor of English and adjunct professor of women's studies at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Reviews

"A brilliant book full of cool reason and flashing insight." - The Boston Globe "A richly layered narrative that encompasses both the deed and the community where it occurred.... Losing Matt Shepard is a powerful meditation on the distortions inherent in the ways we comprehend the world." - David L. Kirp, The Nation "Getting behind the headlines, preconceptions and easy stereotypes, Loffreda has produced a book that mixes intelligence and compassion with crack reporting and sharp insight." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "When we pledge allegiance to the United States we say 'with liberty and justice for all'; Losing Matt Shepard is an excellent book about citizens who don't understand that 'all' means 'all'.... It is a must-read for understanding the cultural wars still raging in the twenty-first century." - Patricia Schroeder, former U.S. Representative from Colorado "This well-written account gets beyond the area's demographics and typical responses to the crime to uncover uncomfortable complexities and contradictions that belie our assumptions about this episode.... A good cross-over book for understanding the complexity of peoples' struggle for (and opposition to) gay rights." - Library Journal (starred review) "Refusing to settle for easy generalizations, [Loffreda] has forced us to attend to the vivid particularities of setting and character involved in Shepard's tragic murder. And she has done so with impressive sensitivity and remarkable moral clarity." - Martin Duberman, author of Paul Robeson: A Biography and Stonewall