Overview
We have read the stories of those who have "crossed" lines of race and class and culture. But few have written of crossing—completely and entirely—the gender line. Crossing is the story of Deirdre McCloskey (formerly Donald), once a golden boy of conservative economics and a child of 1950s and 1960s privilege, and her dramatic and poignant journey to becoming a woman. McCloskey's account of her painstaking efforts to learn to "be a woman" unearth fundamental questions about gender and identity, and hatreds and anxieties, revealing surprising answers.
Synopsis
We have read the stories of those who have "crossed" race lines, class lines, and cultural lines. But few have written of crossing--completely and entirely--the gender line. Deirdre McCloskey, the former Donald, has, and she now tells the dramatic and poignant story of her travel in Crossing, her memoir.
A renowned economist and historian, a husband and father, Donald McCloskey had crossdressed for years without wanting more. But rather suddenly, at age 52, a sense that he was denying his real identity grew to the point where he knew he needed to become a woman. Crossing is the story of this realization and its consequences. McCloskey relates in detail the process of physically becoming a woman but also the emotional wake--personal and professional--left by her decision. Her mother accepts her; her children reject her. Some conservative economists prove to be gender libertarians, but some progressive feminists prove to be gender authoritarians. McCloskey's account of her crossing and her painstaking efforts to learn to "be a woman" enfold all the aspects of her journey into fundamental questions about gender and identity, hatreds and anxieties, that have surprising answers.
Crossing is the story of a golden boy of conservative economics, a child of 1950s and 1960s privilege, who became a woman. Of necessity she also became an artist performing, and then embodying, gender. She notes that the performance was enacted "often with no audience and seldom with a script." Crossing is the start of an engrossing, terrifying, and uplifting script. It is also an amazing story beautifully told.
New York Times Book Review - Maxine Kumin
A highly readable, dramatic account.
Editorials
Maxine Kumin
A highly readable, dramatic account.— New York Times Book Review
Publishers Weekly -
Transsexuality has fascinated mainstream readers since 1953, when former U.S. serviceman George Jorgensen went to Sweden and, to banner headlines, returned as Christine. Since then, there has been a string of notable memoirs of gender crossing, including Geoff Brown's sincere I Want What I Want (1966), Jan Morris's meditative Conundrum (1974) and Holly Woodlawn's campy A Low Life in High Heels (1994). McCloskey's own odyssey from Donald to Deirdre is closest to noted journalist Morris's, in that it charts the life change of a highly regarded public figure--McCloskey is a world-famous conservative economist--who finds fulfillment as a woman after four decades of living as a man. McCloskey forthrightly describes her upper-middle-class youth in Boston, her early and lifelong interest in cross-dressing, her education and eventual success as an academic and her marriage and children. In her late 40s, McCloskey decided that she was not simply a heterosexual cross-dresser but a transsexual and decided to undergo a series of operations to become an anatomical woman. Her memoir effectively details the pain involved: a bitter divorce, insurance companies' refusal to cover surgeries and her sister's repeated attempts to block the process legally. McCloskey's proclivity to jump around in time, her tendency to disrupt the flow of her story with social and political digressions and the constant placing of additional thoughts and ideas in bold text throughout the narrative distract from her story--but her courage nevertheless shines through. (Nov.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
McCloskey, married for 30 years, the father of two, and an economics and history professor, was a secret cross-dresser for 41 years, as "Jane." At 52, he realized that his real identity was as a woman and began transitioning as "Dee" to become "Deirdre." At the heart of this fascinating and poignant story, told in the third person, are the two years (one in Holland) of hormones, multiple surgeries, electrolysis, and a legal name change, all part of the physical and emotional "crossing" from male to female. The big-boned Deirdre describes the joy of "passing," the fear of being "read," and the occasional loving support she has received in contrast to painful estrangement from family, friends, and colleagues. At times revealing, humorous, and provocative, this often overwrought and self-righteous book is marred by minor mistakes, includes gross generalizations about gender differences, and inconsistently employs italicized bold type to represent internal thoughts. For larger public and academic libraries.--James E. Van Buskirk, San Francisco P.L. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
Some conservative economists proved to be gender libertarians, whereas some feminists proved to be gender authoritarians. So Donald McCloskey (economics, U. of Iowa) found out when the married father sought his true gender identity as Deirdre. Includes b&w photos of stages in the transition. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Kate Bornstein
Deirdre McCloskey's brave, witty, dizzying autobiography positively drips tears, sex, danger, and courage with each sashaying step.Peter Skinner
Deirde McCloskey tells a searing tale of the traumas and rewards of gender change. This book is a powerful indictment of legal, medical and institutional obstruction to gender change.— ForeWord