One of These Things First - Hardcover

Steven Gaines is the author of Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons; The Sky's the Limit: Passion and Property in Manhattan; Simply Halston, the biography of the fashion designer; and co-author of The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of the Beatles, among other books. He's a co-founder of the Hamptons International Film Festival and lives in a small hamlet on the East End of Long Island.

"One of These Things First is not only a departure but an absolute treasure. [Gaines is] a skilled humorist as well as a tender yet trenchant observer of human behavior and the social forces that so often control it." (New York Times Book Review)

"A longtime journalist and artful chronicler of New York lives, Gaines’s look back at his own is shocking, funny, and sometimes shockingly funny. A real treasure." (Nickolas Butler, internationally bestselling author of Shotgun Lovesongs and The Hearts of Men)

"Funny and poignant." (New York Post)

"A lyrical, dispassionate, humane story with a rich cast of characters . . . an absorbing, self-deprecating, deadpan humorous and painfully insightful memoir." (Sag Harbor Express)

"By turns comic, honest, and riveting, Gaines tells a story of a well-meaning shrink and his troubled charge locked in a war of wills to ease the 'trauma of homosexuality' and restore his humanity in a conservative world." (Publishers Weekly)

"This is a memoir for anyone who loves Paddy Chayefsky and Hanya Yanagihara. Steven Gaines has turned his considerable journalistic talents onto his younger self, writing a lyrical, wry and precisely excavated book which zaps you back to that moment when you first wonder, ‘Is this really who I am? What does it mean to not be what I think I’m supposed to be? Can I change?’" (Carl Swanson, editor New York Magazine)

"Growing up gay in pre-trendy Brooklyn wasn't always a joyride, as I personally realized ages ago. But Steven Gaines knows it even better. His harrowing account of being a suicidal 15-year-old who checked into Payne Whitney is eye opening, touching and ultimately triumphant because of how well he turned out." (Michael Musto, columnist and author of Manhattan on the Rocks)

"Years ago Dominick Dunne called Steven Gaines 'a born storyteller.' If anything, we now know Gaines was meant to write his own powerful, heart-wrenching, and funny life story. I could not put it down." (Steven Petrow, columnist, Washington Post)

A poignant and funny book that proves it does get better. (Joy Behar, "The View")

A beautiful and heart-rending testament . Hard to imagine that in our lifetime we’ve seen such change in the attitudes toward young people. Gaines' irrepressible character comes through loud and clear. Leave it to him to find his way to Payne Whitney, the Harvard of mental joints and then come out of it with honors. (James Lescene, writer of the Academy-award winning short film, Trevor)