Could also be titled "Ellison: The Rogue Years," since it was in Rogue, an Illinois-based men's magazine, where many of these stories first appeared, and where shortly thereafter Ellison became an editor.
The tales obviously transcended their domain. Gentleman Junkie, in its original edition, was the only paperback Dorothy Parker ever reviewed -- and reviewed very positively, calling Ellison "a good, honest, clean writer, putting down what he has seen and known, and no sensationalism about it." And of one story in particular, "Daniel White for the Greater Good," Parker wrote, "It is without exception the best presentation I have ever seen of present racial conditions in the South and of those who try to alleviate them."
Who am I to argue with Dorothy Parker? Gentleman Junkie is indispensable.
