Nebraska - by George Whitmore (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Whitmore's semi-autobiographical novel about a young boy and his uncle is a provocative yet essential narrative of queer repression in postwar America

First published in 1987 by Grove Press and long out of print, Nebraska is a classic underground novel by the gay writer and activist George Whitmore. Craig Mullen, a young boy in Nebraska, gets hit by a car on the way to buy groceries. After having his leg amputated, he is bedridden, lonely, bored and addicted to painkillers. His rare interactions with kids his own age, specifically with a neighbor boy who often spends the night, awaken his feelings to further explore. When Craig's uncle moves into the family home, a world of hope, pain, mystery and despair descends upon the Mullen family, giving the reader glimpses into how gay lives were secretly lived and horrifically extinguished in 1950s rural America. With an unforeseen ending that can only be described with the delicately complicated touch of Whitmore's enigmatic prose, Nebraska will stay in your mind long after finishing it.
George Whitmore (1945-89) was an American playwright, novelist and poet. He was a member of a literary group known as the Violet Quill, whose seven authors are regarded as the strongest voices of the gay male experience in the post-Stonewall era.

Review Quotes

Nebraska's' depiction of small-town queerness before gay liberation is the kind of story always in danger of erasure. But unlike many contemporary gay narratives, Nebraska is ruthless and unsentimental, set in a period when gay sex was criminalized and had to remain underground lest it lead to arrest or forced institutionalization. (In the 1950s, psychiatrists classified homosexuality as a 'sociopathic personality disturbance.') There are no affirmations here, no pride, just a stoic resolve to continue living.--Jeremy Lybarger "The Nation"

Again and again in 'Nebraska, ' Whitmore captures the extraordinary pain of living and turns it into an unsettling, often smiling, performance.--Holly Connolly "The Literary Review"

One of the best books of 2025.--Joe Westmoreland "Artforum"

['Nebraska'] is one of the few literary works to extend the queer legacy of earlier writers into the post-Stonewall era, de-emphasizing neoliberal statements about rights and self-expression in favor of a broader, less teleological inquiry into the nature of identity and personality and the mutually warping mirrors of consciousness and culture.--Dale Peck "The Baffler"

Whitmore's depiction of rural, working-class life is strange but never surreal or exploitative. He brings attention and care to the Mullen family, creating a nuanced portrait that never withholds the humanity of his characters. Nebraska is a complicated, gripping, and honest depiction of rural gay life in mid-century America--Isle McElroy "New York Magazine: Vulture"

[Whitmore] wrote a classic queer book that has fortunately been given a new life and retains all its powerful weirdness.--Nate Lippens "Full Stop"

Whitmore's twangy, understated style occasionally erupts into fevered lyricism.--Paul McAdory "The Paris Review"