Although he died at a heartbreakingly young age and appeared in only a handful of movies, James Dean revolutionized American manhood. As a celebrity and icon, he melded vulnerability with determination, sensitivity with strength, in a way that offered a bracing and—for some—threatening new vision of masculinity. His massive influence and the fascination he has always inspired are inseparable from his identity as a queer man whose complex sexuality shattered the norms of midcentury American society. (When asked whether he was a homosexual, he reportedly said, “I’m certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back.”)
Today, even though it is widely accepted that Dean was gay or bisexual, the story of his life and personal character continue to be colored by the prejudices of an earlier era and the work of often unscrupulous biographers and journalists. Drawing on exhaustive new research (including more than four hundred previously secret pages of Dean’s personal and business records), Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean is a revelatory reassessment of the man and his legacy. Free from sensationalism—but unafraid to confront the difficult facts of Dean’s life—it deploys modern insights into sexual diversity to transform our understanding of James Dean’s story, and the stories of boys and men like him.
- ISBN10 1493085654
- ISBN13 9781493085651
- Publish Date 19 January 2025 (first published 19 November 2024)
- Publish Status Forthcoming
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Globe Pequot Press
- Imprint Applause
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 320
- Language English