{{Short description|American sociologist (born 1962)}} '''Joshua Gamson''' (born November 16, 1962) is an American scholar and author. A graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of California, Berkeley,<ref name="usf">{{cite web|url=http://www.usfca.edu/facultydetails.aspx?id=4294969632|title=Joshua Gamson: Profile|date=2014|publisher=College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco|accessdate=2014-01-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403060055/http://www.usfca.edu/facultydetails.aspx?id=4294969632|archivedate=2014-04-03}}</ref> he served on the faculty of Yale University<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atm.silmemar.org/ish18/reviews.html|title=Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity (review)|last=Ochs|first=Robyn|date=1999|publisher=Anything That Moves|accessdate=2014-01-26}}</ref> before becoming a professor of sociology at the University of San Francisco. His work has appeared in ''The Nation'', ''The American Prospect'', ''Newsday'', ''Gender & Society'', the ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'', and ''Sociological Inquiry''.<ref name="usf"/> He is the son of sociologists William and Zelda F. Gamson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://contexts.org/articles/summer-2013/keeping-it-in-the-family/|title=Keeping it in the family|last=Gamson|first=Joshua|date=Summer 2013|publisher=Contexts|accessdate=2014-01-26}}</ref>
Gamson received the 2006 Stonewall Book Award for nonfiction for ''The Fabulous Sylvester'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=129|title=2006 Stonewall Book Award winners announced|last=Staff report|date=May 11, 2006|publisher=The Bay Area Reporter|accessdate=2014-01-26}}</ref> his biography of disco singer and activist Sylvester, which was also shortlisted for the 2005 Lambda Literary Awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/04/09/lambda-literary-awards-2005/ |title=18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |last=Gonzalez Cerna |first=Antonio |date=April 9, 2005 |publisher=Lambda Literary Foundation |accessdate=2014-01-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211105334/http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/04/09/lambda-literary-awards-2005/ |archivedate=December 11, 2013 }}</ref> In a mostly positive review for ''The Village Voice'', Robert Christgau lamented the gaps in Gamson's knowledge of music history, but praised his "details and insights" into Sylvester's life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bkrev/sylvester-05.php|title=Robert Christgau: Disco Heat|website=www.robertchristgau.com}}</ref> ''Kirkus Reviews'' called the book "worshipful, occasionally overenthusiastic, yet engaging and sometimes surprisingly insightful."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joshua-gamson/the-fabulous-sylvester/|title=THE FABULOUS SYLVESTER | Kirkus Reviews|via=www.kirkusreviews.com}}</ref>
He was a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usfca.edu/newsroom/Research/USF_Sociologist_Wins_Guggenheim/|title=USF Sociologist Wins Guggenheim|last=Carpenter|first=Edward|date=May 27, 2009|publisher=USF Newsroom|accessdate=2014-01-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003185002/http://www.usfca.edu/newsroom/Research/USF_Sociologist_Wins_Guggenheim/|archivedate=October 3, 2013}}</ref> and received a Placek Award from the American Psychological Association in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/placek/winners.html|title=Recipients of the Wayne F. Placek Award|date=2014|publisher=Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis|accessdate=2014-01-26}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *''Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America'' (1994) *''Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity'' (1998) *''The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, The Music, The Seventies in San Francisco'' (2005) * ''Modern Families: Stories of Extraordinary Journeys to Kinship'' (2015)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20131003140736/http://www.gf.org/fellows/16600-joshua-gamson Profile at the Guggenheim Foundation] *[http://www.joshuagamson.com www.joshuagamson.com]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamson, Joshua}} Category:American sociologists Category:American non-fiction writers Category:American LGBTQ writers Category:Living people Category:1962 births Category:Swarthmore College alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Yale University faculty Category:Stonewall Book Award winners