Martin J. Smith, a veteran journalist and former senior editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, is the author of five crime novels and four previous nonfiction books. He has won more than fifty newspaper and magazine writing awards, and his novels have been nominated for three of the publishing industry's most prestigious honors, including the Edgar Award, the Anthony Award, and the Barry Award.
"As a record of institutionalized perspectives on transgender
people and the dominant beliefs concerning us at the time, Trinidad
is indispensable. In a world that demeans, dehumanizes and
discriminates against trans people, it is the story of a doctor who
offered them a sense of ownership over their bodies. Ultimately,
it's a brutal telling--hard to read, though vital to hear."--Claire
Rudy Foster "High Country News"
"Between 1969 and 2010, the small town of Trinidad, Colo., saw
nearly 6,000 medical pilgrims pass through, seeking
gender-affirming surgery from Dr. Stanley Biber and then successor
Marci Bowers. This tiny spot played such a pivotal role, the phrase
'going to Trinidad' became a euphemism for the surgery itself.
Martin J. Smith, an award-winning journalist and former senior
editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine who also has penned five
crime novels and four nonfiction books, brings this overlooked
chapter to life, structuring the book around the lives of two of
Biber's patients: Claudine Griggs and Walt Heyer...The history
Smith uncovers in this book is essential."--Anisse Gross "San
Francisco Chronicle"
"Fortunately, we now have an expert account of Biber's work and
life from the former Los Angeles journalist and editor Martin J.
Smith. Going to Trinidad: A Doctor, a Colorado Town, and Stories
from an Unlikely Gender Crossroads functions as a biography on
multiple levels: of Biber, of Trinidad, and of those who arrived to
receive the surgery, primarily male to female. All of them are
complicated subjects that defy easy categorization. And all of them
live up to Smith's opening words: 'The best stories are about
people who find themselves at a crossroads. They face a critical
choice, and the choice they make in that crucible moment tells us
who they are.'...Smith holds steadfastly to a nonjudgmental tone,
acknowledging the courage and hardship that accompanied so many
people on their journey to Trinidad, but also making the scientific
record plain that surgery is not a cure-all for the unhappiness
that can haunt trans people who feel they were misassigned. He
walks readers through the thicket of academic literature on gender
dysphoria, the sense of internal alienation."-- "Los Angeles Review
of Books"
"Smith came across the story after moving to Colorado in 2016. He
had a cousin who transitioned and was always fascinated by what
transgender people went through to be their true selves. Trinidad
had given him a place to find answers through telling Biber and
Bowers' stories, but also those of some of their patients."--Nicole
Brodeur "The Seattle Times"
"Smith's story is a sensitive look at the pain and despair of
transgender men and women. They have trouble finding jobs, are
ostracized by family and friends, and some commit suicide... 'Going
to Trinidad' is a groundbreaking work on sexual dysphoria and
Colorado's place in treating it."--Sandra Dallas "The Denver Post"
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