About the Author

John D'Emilio is professor of history and of gender and women's studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Policy director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, he is coauthor of Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America, published by the University of Chicago Press, and author of The World Turned: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and Culture.

Reviews

George Chauncey author of "Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940" In this absorbing reappraisal of Bayard Rustin's tumultuous life and times, John D'Emilio shows how Rustin became one of the most brilliant and influential strategists of the peace and civil rights movements in the 1950s, and then came to be reviled as a conservative by many leftists in the late 1960s. D'Emilio also provides a stunning account of how Rustin's homosexuality shaped his career, as his foes -- from Strom Thurmond to Adam Clayton Powell -- tried to use it to discredit his leadership and force him into the shadows. This revelatory work of biography finally restores Rustin to history in all of his complexity and humanity. "Lost Prophet is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year." -- Tom Wicker "Los Angeles Times" "A lively, detailed, immensely readable account of this key figure of the 20th century, including information about his sexual life and relationships."--Ian Young "Torso " "D''Emilio''s biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle."--Gerald Early "New York Review of Books " "D''Emilio''s work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D''Emilio, not only have we found a ''lost prophet, '' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place."--Steve Estes "Journal of the History of Sexuality " "D'Emilio's work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D'Emilio, not only have we found a 'lost prophet, ' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place."--Steve Estes "Journal of the History of Sexuality " "D'Emilio's biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle."--Gerald Early "New York Review of Books " -A lively, detailed, immensely readable account of this key figure of the 20th century, including information about his sexual life and relationships.---Ian Young -Torso - -D'Emilio's work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D'Emilio, not only have we found a 'lost prophet, ' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place.---Steve Estes -Journal of the History of Sexuality - -D'Emilio's biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle.---Gerald Early -New York Review of Books - -Bayard Rustin became famous for working behind the scenes. The tactics of public protest that became familiar in the 1960s marches on Washington, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, passive resistance, civil disobedience were pioneered and refined by Rustin two decades earlier. Indeed, through his decisive influence on Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin created the model for the social movements of post-World War II America--civil rights, antiwar, gay liberation, feminist.-
--Michael Anderson -New York Times Book Review - -Lost Prophet is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year.-
--Tom Wicker -Los Angeles Times - "Bayard Rustin became famous for working behind the scenes. The tactics of public protest that became familiar in the 1960s marches on Washington, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, passive resistance, civil disobedience were pioneered and refined by Rustin two decades earlier. Indeed, through his decisive influence on Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin created the model for the social movements of post-World War II America--civil rights, antiwar, gay liberation, feminist."
--Michael Anderson "New York Times Book Review " ""Lost Prophet" is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year."
--Tom Wicker "Los Angeles Times "

George Chauncey author of "Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940" In this absorbing reappraisal of Bayard Rustin's tumultuous life and times, John D'Emilio shows how Rustin became one of the most brilliant and influential strategists of the peace and civil rights movements in the 1950s, and then came to be reviled as a conservative by many leftists in the late 1960s. D'Emilio also provides a stunning account of how Rustin's homosexuality shaped his career, as his foes -- from Strom Thurmond to Adam Clayton Powell -- tried to use it to discredit his leadership and force him into the shadows. This revelatory work of biography finally restores Rustin to history in all of his complexity and humanity. "Lost Prophet is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year." -- Tom Wicker "Los Angeles Times" "A lively, detailed, immensely readable account of this key figure of the 20th century, including information about his sexual life and relationships."--Ian Young "Torso " "D''Emilio''s biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle."--Gerald Early "New York Review of Books " "D''Emilio''s work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D''Emilio, not only have we found a ''lost prophet, '' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place."--Steve Estes "Journal of the History of Sexuality " "D'Emilio's work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D'Emilio, not only have we found a 'lost prophet, ' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place."--Steve Estes "Journal of the History of Sexuality " "D'Emilio's biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle."--Gerald Early "New York Review of Books " -A lively, detailed, immensely readable account of this key figure of the 20th century, including information about his sexual life and relationships.---Ian Young -Torso - -D'Emilio's work contributes greatly to the literature of Bayard Rustin and the civil rights movement. . . . Thanks to D'Emilio, not only have we found a 'lost prophet, ' but we have a much better understanding of why he was lost in the first place.---Steve Estes -Journal of the History of Sexuality - -D'Emilio's biography is an important book about an important man, well researched, with particularly perceptive insights into gay culture in America as well as providing a solid account of the history of the peace movement and the civil rights struggle.---Gerald Early -New York Review of Books - -Bayard Rustin became famous for working behind the scenes. The tactics of public protest that became familiar in the 1960s marches on Washington, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, passive resistance, civil disobedience were pioneered and refined by Rustin two decades earlier. Indeed, through his decisive influence on Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin created the model for the social movements of post-World War II America--civil rights, antiwar, gay liberation, feminist.- --Michael Anderson -New York Times Book Review - -Lost Prophet is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year.- --Tom Wicker -Los Angeles Times - "Bayard Rustin became famous for working behind the scenes. The tactics of public protest that became familiar in the 1960s marches on Washington, Freedom Rides, sit-ins, passive resistance, civil disobedience were pioneered and refined by Rustin two decades earlier. Indeed, through his decisive influence on Martin Luther King Jr., Rustin created the model for the social movements of post-World War II America--civil rights, antiwar, gay liberation, feminist." --Michael Anderson "New York Times Book Review " ""Lost Prophet" is one of the saddest stories you will ever read. Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, and a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence . . . But Rustin was also gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years. . . . D'Emilio succeeds in detailing a highly useful life and--a prime task of biography--in redeeming a nearly forgotten figure and assigning him a proper role in an era that becomes more beclouded and mythologized with every passing year." --Tom Wicker "Los Angeles Times "

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, D'Emilio takes an unflinching look at the complicated life of the man who made it happen. That Rustin (1912-1987), a black civil rights activist, is not a household name has less to do with his accomplishments than that he was openly gay in an era that criminalized homosexuality, according to the author. D'Emilio (Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities: The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970) believes the lack of attention paid to Rustin in 1960s history books is tragic, and he examines, in a refreshingly unsympathetic fashion, the reasons behind the snub, most notably Rustin's 1953 arrest for lewd vagrancy in Pasadena, Calif. Drawing on interviews with Rustin's colleagues, friends and lovers, D'Emilio explores all facets of the activist's life, from his Quaker upbringing and early imprisonment for draft dodging to his close but tenuous relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. "Rustin came to King... with a history that threatened as much as it promised" is how D'Emilio describes their first encounter. The book's dry chronological accounts are alleviated by personal anecdotes and D'Emilio's own heartfelt descriptions, resulting in a thorough, if at times heavy and unfocused, portrait. Rather than a generalist's account, the book seems oriented toward closing the book on lingering objections to Rustin as a major figure fit for mainstream textbooks. Historians will hopefully take note; meanwhile, a recent PBS documentary feels much more immediate on Rustin's achievements, relationships and way of being in the world. (Aug. 11) FYI: A wonderful assemblage of polemical reportage, position papers and episodic memoirs, Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, will also be available this fall, edited by UCLA Law and African American Studies professor Devon Carbado and Donald Weise, who co-edited Black Like Us. (Cleis, $16.95 paper 400p ISBN 1-57344-174-0; Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.