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Deirdre N. McCloskey
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Crossing, A Memoir by
Deirdre McCloskey
This fascinating
memoir chronicles Deirdre McCloskey's transformation from Donald
McCloskey, an economist at the University of Iowa and married
father of two, into the woman he finally accepted he had always
wanted to be. McCloskey had been dressing in women's clothes since
he was 11, but after his daughter went to college in 1994, the
52-year-old man grew increasingly aware that he was more than
"just a heterosexual crossdresser." As he moved toward
the decision to become a transsexual, his wife reacted angrily,
and his sister tried twice to have him declared insane. The
passages detailing McCloskey's ordeal within the psychiatric and
legal establishment are as gripping as a topnotch thriller. But
the memoir's deeper interest lies in the author's reflections on
the nature of gender and identity. Donald was a macho academic who
dominated every discussion, viewing conversation as an exercise in
one-upmanship. As he surgically altered his appearance and began
to take estrogen on the road to "The Operation," he
found himself relating to people in a more conventionally female
way: listening to others, considering feelings. "The hormones
are working, he thought at first. Or was it merely that the real
person could now stand up?... Biology or core identity?"
There are no final answers to such questions, but McCloskey poses
them with sensitivity and insight. --Wendy Smith
 The
Rhetoric of Economics (Rhetoric of the Human Sciences) by
Deirdre
N. McCloskey
A classic in its field,
this pathbreaking book humanized the scientific rhetoric of
economics to reveal its literary soul. Author Deirdre N. McCloskey
was formerly known as Donald. Her experience in changing gender is
reflected in this new edition, but the message remains the
same--economics needs to move away from metaphoric rhetoric aimed
at persuasion and get back to the science of facts.
 Knowledge
and Persuasion in Economics by Deirdre
N. McCloskey, Donald
N. McCloskey
As an macro-economist
interested in methodology of economics and the philosophy of
science, i found McCloskey's book instructive and interesting.
Especially the central role of language in science (as in all
other human communication or, rather, persuasion), with clear
links to American pragmatist philosophers like Rorty is
convincingly put forward. The false and unhelpful dichotomy
between 'objective facts' and 'subjective interpretation' gets a
proper thrashing. I wish more economists and other social
scientists would take note of this. Recommended for all economists
with an interest in the foundations of their profession. --
Willem Noë
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The University of Chicago Press page for
Crossing, A Memoir
Excerpt:
The big event of that half week was on the way
home from the East Coast to Iowa City. Donald had arranged to stop
in a Chicago suburb for Saturday night, going to a motel to meet
his crossdressing friend Lucy. Then they planned to navigate the
parking lot of the motel next door to attend their very first
crossdressing meeting.
The meeting was for the Chicago
chapter of Tri Ess, the
national crossdressing sorority, which Donald had joined through
his Chicago BBS girlfriends. He had been excited for weeks and
planned it like a military campaign, lugging from Iowa City to
Philadelphia to Baltimore to Chicago a big suitcase filled with
his outfit for the evening and his Philadelphia loot. He chose his
Marilyn Monroe wig and a black crepe dress inherited from his
wife...
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Excerpt:
How does language impact on economics and its
application? And how will the study of economics be affected by
the growing proportion of women in the profession of economics?
This article outlines some intriguing answers by Deirdre
McCloskey, one of today's most talked-about and controversial
economists...
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From the International
Journal of Transgenderism
Deirdre McCloskey
University Professor of the Human Sciences, University of Illinois
at Chicago
Abstract:
Deirdre McCloskey, although having transitioned
and lived full time as a woman for four years, is still a
Chicago-School, quantitative, historical economist who continues
to "believe in markets". But the impact of living as a
woman and inculcating values more highly prized by the
"opposite" sex leads to a reconsideration of what is
important and how it ought to be valued. Economics is about value,
but those values do not come without political and social
considerations. In considering, for example, the classic virtues
prudence is the one almost exclusively considered by economists,
but it is argued, faith, hope and love must also be brought into
the formulation...
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How a man became a woman--and what it says about
identity.
By Deirdre
N. McCloskey
In the mid-1990s renowned economic
historian--and longtime REASON contributing editor--Donald N.
McCloskey transformed himself into Deirdre N. McCloskey. In
her new memoir about the experience, Crossing (University
of Chicago Press), she recounts both her trials--in a bid to stop
the process, McCloskey's sister, a psychologist, had her committed
involuntarily to mental institutions and otherwise tried to stop
the gender change--and her triumphs. "As Donald aged 13
or 14 waited for sleep in his bed," she writes, referring to
her selves in the third person, "he would fantasize about two
things. Please, God, please. ...Tomorrow when I wake up: I won't
stutter....And I'll be a girl. A girl....Deirdre later used the
memory to introduce talks, to put people at ease about both her
stuttering and her crossing in one story. She would joke, `I
f-f-f-finally got one of m-m-my two wishes!'"
As the following selections suggest, Crossing
tells more than McCloskey's personal tale of her odyssey from
Donald to "Dee" (a name she called herself midway
through the process) to Deirdre. On the eve of the
"Biological Century"--an era in which individuals will
be increasingly free to choose how to live their lives and on what
terms--McCloskey's experience speaks eloquently to the larger
social, political, and moral implications raised by such
possibilities...
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Names Index:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
| Authors
Index | Scholars
Index |
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