The Price of Achievement
Coming Out in the Reagan Days (Lesbian & Gay Studies)
John F. Kennedy predicted that Scotty Thompson would be President some day. Before he was 30 he had won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, published several books, begun a promising academic and public career, and married the handsome and wealthy daughter of an elder statesman. At 40, from a tenured university professorship he got his first sub-cabinet job in Washington. Between the cup and the lip of fulfillment his world of power and riches fell apart: he could no longer hold back his gay secret. So he came out, joining what is still the most despised minority. Against the most formidable odds - powerful people opposing him to protect their own deeply guarded similar secret, defeating him for position on grounds of his homosexuality - he put his life back together: with his children, with his lovers, and finally as the first openly gay presidential appointee.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of LGBTQ+, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
LGBTQ+ · Nonfiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest sexual material. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Warm tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3043-3303-5
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL10320683M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in LGBTQ+, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What does the central character want, and what do they misunderstand about that desire?
- Which detail or relationship changes how you interpret the story?
- What feeling or question does the book leave with you after the plot moves on?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More LGBTQ+ books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
Querelle of Brest
by Jean Genet
Why it fits: shares LGBTQ+ and Nonfiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
Coming out to play
by Robbie Rogers
Why it fits: shares LGBTQ+ and Nonfiction, a similar reading length.
Dark Reflections
by Samuel R. Delany
Why it fits: shares LGBTQ+ and Nonfiction, a similar reading length.
Transforming citizenships
by Isaac West
Why it fits: shares LGBTQ+ and Nonfiction, a similar reading length.