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Andrew Tobias a.k.a. John Reid
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 The
Best Little Boy in the World (Modern Library) by John
Reid,
Andrew Tobias, Andrew Sullivan (Introduction)
When The Best Little Boy in the World was
first published in 1973, Andrew Tobias could write about what it
had felt like to begin to accept his homosexuality, but he
couldn't bring himself to sign his own name to the book, for fear
of embarrassing his parents. And so it was "John Reid"
who became a hero to the thousands of gay males who found in this
memoir a mirror for their own experiences.
Although the book appears rambling at times,
Tobias always has a clear sense of where he wants to take readers
with the story. He treats his closeted adolescence and college
years, and his stumbling first attempts at "doing a
thing" with other gay men, with a self-effacing humor that
exposes his pain without descending into self-pity. And if his
life seems fairly ordinary, apart from the sexual awakening ...
well, that was the whole point. "You like and respect us when
you don't realize we're gay," he writes in a new
introduction, "so now please just continue to like and
respect us once you do realize. It's not that big a deal."
"The best little boy in the world never had
wet dreams or masturbated; he always topped his class, honored
more and dad, deferred to elders and excelled in sports....The
best little boy in the world was...the model IBM exec.... The best
little boy in the world was a closet case who 'never read anything
about homosexuality'....John Reid comes out slowly, hilariously,
brilliantly. One reads this utterly honest account with the shock
of recognition."--The New York Times
"An enlightening portrait of growing up gay in a straight
world."-- Chicago Tribune
 The
Best Little Boy in the World Grows Up by Andrew
Tobias, John Reid
In 1973 Andrew Tobias published The Best Little
Boy in the World under the pseudonym John Reid in order to
avoid telling people (including his parents) that he was gay.
Since then, he's gone on to become a bestselling finance writer (The
Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need) and columnist for Worth
magazine. "Much of my life," writes Tobias, "the
context of this book notwithstanding, has had little to do with
being gay...." This may seem like an odd statement to find in
the sequel to one of the major gay memoirs of the late 20th
century. Yet it's also perhaps the point: as Tobias has
"grown up" and fully accepted his sexuality, it has
become so natural to him that were it not for other people's
attitudes there would be almost no reason to call attention to it.
In this memoir, Tobias avoids discussing his
sexuality in detail, and apologizes for even the occasional
indirect remarks he makes to get around talking about sex.
Instead, he covers his emotional relationships and the significant
advances for gays and lesbians in American society that he has
both witnessed and experienced since 1973. He writes in a
charming, conversational style, frequently following digressions
and then forcing himself back on track. Tobias is lavish in his
praise of those he admires, including Bill and Hillary Clinton
(who have "done more than anyone in the history of the world
for gay and lesbian people"), and tries to see the good in
those with whom he profoundly disagrees. The Best Little Boy in
the World Grows Up is a thoughtful, self-assured memoir that
shows that one way to start making the world a better place is to
become at peace with oneself. --Ron Hogan
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Excerpt:
At Harvard in the 1960s, Andrew Tobias ostensibly
majored in "Slavic languages and literatures" but spent
most of his time running the million-dollar student business
conglomerate and publishing Let's Go: The Student Guide To
Europe.
After graduating in 1968, he had a brief sojourn
in the high-flying world of business, rising to a vice president's
spot at then-hot/then-not National Student Marketing Corporation
(about which he wrote The Funny Money Game, his first book
to gain national attention).
Slightly older -- 23 -- and very slightly wiser,
he entered Harvard Business School, writing magazine pieces for New
York Magazine on the side, and then going to work full-time as
a Contributing Editor upon graduation. For New York he
covered the world of finance, and when New York was sold,
he followed Clay Felker to Esquire. For several years he
had a column in Time and since 1986 has appeared annually
in Parade. His work has also appeared in such places as The
New York Times Sunday Magazine, Money and Worth,
of which he is a contributing editor...
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By Alan Flippen, The Advocate, September 29,
1998.
Excerpt:
A grown-up Andrew Tobias talks about money, men,
and moguls 25 years after coming out as The Best Little Boy in the
World
Since 1973 The Best Little Boy in the World has
been helping other good, and not-so-good, little boys to come out
of the closet. A classic coming-out book, it tells the story of
John Reid, an upper-middle-class, straight-arrow Yale graduate and
IBM employee who frankly and humorously comes to terms not only
with his own homosexuality but also with his fears and hang-ups
about sex and gay society...
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Names Index:
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