Arnie Kantrowitz was a gift to gay letters: teacher, scholar, autobiographer, activist. He is sorely missed. But he also left behind this wonderful novel. Song of Myself is not autobiographical fiction, but a spiritual American history where Arnie gave his love of Walt Whitman to a fictional gay Everyman of a different generation and wider experience. Lively, sexy, dramatic and accessible, this is popular fiction at its best."

Creative inhibitions, the professional demands of teaching, and eventually, failing health, all prevented Arnie Kantrowitz from publishing his only novel, Song of Myself, in his lifetime. But it would be a mistake to dismiss this as a mere archival curiosity. Song of Myself is an entertaining and enlightening novel inspired by Walt Whitman's spiritual, literary, and political legacies, written by a man who was himself a leader in the gay liberation struggle, and a Whitman scholar. Song of Myself, like the poem it is named after, is a celebration of life in all of its exhilaration, pleasure, and confusion. Daniel Dell Blake is a character who lives against the backdrop of twentieth-century America, through wars and political upheaval, through the modern gay rights movement, through tragic losses from AIDS, and survival in its aftermath. Through it all, Whitman's poetry is a constant presence in Daniel's life, as it was in Kantrowitz's own life, and the lives of many queer folks who came to see Whitman as a spiritual icon. This book is an important document of post-Stonewall literary history, and a delightful blend of creative and critical texts. Arnie Kantrowitz has left all Whitman lovers a gift that should be enjoyed and celebrated.

Arnie Kantrowitz made history with his activism and his writing and teaching. He also made knowing and writing our history possible. There's a direct line from the concerns of his activism, his teaching and his writing - the achievement of Under the Rainbow and his re-interpretation and resurrection of a literary history that might otherwise have continued unseen - to the issues we face today. He posthumously points the way to confronting our present-and future--challenges.

I'm always fascinated when novelists do history, vividly imagining the life of their characters through time and social upheaval. So I'm delighted to recommend Kantrowitz's novel. As a leader of New York's Gay Activists Alliance, Arnie inspired me to quit the closet, and now Arnie inspires me again. Thanks, Arnie!