Encounters with Men

De: Bob Ostertag

Narrado por: Bob Ostertag

Encounters with Men is a searching memoir as only Bob Ostertag could tell it. In this book are a lifetime of intimacies and distances, moments with fathers and teachers, friends and lovers, soldiers, cops, and criminals—even one of the great mass murderers of the late twentieth century. Bob Ostertag writes of the men he has known in stories shot through with deep love and deep violence, sex often at the core. Here, we encounter the worst of the AIDS epidemic and the best of human behavior. Fittingly, the final encounter occurs exclusively online, a stark yet compelling portrait of the new sex work in the digital age.

Like encounters with bears, except with men.

©2024 Bob Ostertag (P)2025 Nomadic

Enthralling memoir

Encounters With Men is a an extraordinary, gripping memoir by a gifted and thoughtful narrator (who also happens to be a renowed musician and composer, though that barely appears in the book). From a humble beginning in an ordinary southwesterner football-oriented town, the author has led a singularly adventurous and unconventional life -- the men Ostertag describes include his own tragically closeted father, murderous Salvadorian military bosses encounter Ed as a war correspondent, heroes and victims of the early years of AIDS in San Francisco, diverse lovers and hookups affectionately rendered, customers at a full service BDSM camp, and many more. The author writes about his passions (the human transformations wrought by technology, and sex, and more) with verve and insight. He does dialogue well, and has a base empathy even for the many deeply flawed men who populate the book. The stories alone are worth the price of admission, but the ensemble makes for a valuable opportunity to reflect on manhood in its wildly shifting and fraught contexts. Highly recommended.