All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C. (PB) (2009)

All I Could Bare is the story of a mild-mannered graduate student who "took the road less clothed," a decision that would change his life forever. In the 1990s, when Washington, D.C.'s gay club scene was notoriously no-holds-barred, Craig Seymour embarked on his incredible journey, all the while trying to keep his newfound vocation a secret from his parents and maintain a relationship with his boyfriend, Seth. Along the way he met some unforgettable characters: the fifty-year-old divorced man who's obsessed with a twenty-one-year-old dancer; the celebrated drag diva who hailed from a small town in rural Virginia; and the many straight guys who were "gay for pay." Seymour gives readers both the highs (money, adoration, camaraderie) and the lows (an ill-fated attempt at prostitution, a humiliating porn audition). Ultimately coming clean about his secret identity, Seymour breaks through taboos and makes his way from booty-baring stripper to Ph.D.-bearing academic, taking a detour into celebrity journalism and memorably crossing paths with Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Mary J. Blige along the way. Hilarious, insightful, and touching, All I Could Bare proves that sometimes the "wrong decision" can lead to the right place.