Rating: 
Summary: An education about gender identity
Review: McCloskey's "Crossing" describes the difficulties and joys encountered by a highly respected academic in transitioning from a 50-something-year-old libertarian conservative male economic historian to a post-op female economic historian/feminist. The story focuses on McCloskey's gender identity, its interplay with her personal relationships, and her internal dialogue about each, as she changes from genetic male married for over 30 years to the same woman with two grown children and established social networks in a small Iowa community, to a single post-operative female economist/feminist facing a seriously altered and in some ways much richer set of social relationships.While the post-op McCloskey seems to gravitate toward some of the more traditional roles played by women, the reader should not be fooled into believing that she is therefore advocating these roles for all women. The post-op McCloskey remains a world-class educator, albeit with slightly different interests. The story is not about promoting a conservative view of women's roles; instead, it's about the acceptance and love of female identity in all of its forms. McCloskey's story highlights the archaic state of psychiatric treatment for gender crossers, and the difficulties apparent in securing needed medical assistance and the resources to pay for it. Equally important are the hopeful tales of friendship, community and cultural acceptance shared throughout the book. This book is an easy read, has its share of intrigue to move you through the pages, and is well the time and effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Economist transformed
Review: This is a memoir of a prominent economist who suffers from gender identity disorder. Born Donald McCloskey, the author indulges in cross-dressing until mid-life and eventually undergoes sex reassignment surgery and "becomes" a woman. One wonders if she is truly transsexual or merely a repressed homosexual (indeed, a psychiatrist raises the possibility, loudly). I didn't find the book all that engaging; I grew bored with the author's continual defensiveness, and self-pitying posture. She divides the world into those who support her and Enemies. The latter category consists of anyone who questions her intentions. She skips the usual one or two year waiting period and accompanying psychological analysis required of transsexuals planning sex reassignment surgery in the United States. Why bother, when you can have it done in Australia without all the fuss? After she has "the" operation, she spends the rest of the book honing nineteenth ideals of femininity and asking herself over and over "Did I pass, did I pass?" It gets rather tedious.
Rating:
Summary: Anything by McCloskey is worth reading
Review: When I was in grad school I had the chance to take a class from Deirdre [I would technically refer to McCloskey as 'Donald/Deirdre' or simply as McCloskey, and do not use pronouns to refer to the person; however, to simplify and avoid political spin or personal feelings I will refer to the person as Deirdre and use feminine pronouns when referring to Deirdre] and work with her. Deirdre is the type "ENTP" in my opinion for those familiar with the MBTI. And, to be blunt, Deirdre is a genius. However, geniuses are not always easy to work with or fun to be around. Deirdre is a complex tangle of abstract theories and creativity, short temper, a bit of depression, moments of deep feeling and sometimes empathy, and always in the middle of some kind of controversy or argument. Unfortunately 'transgendered' people are probably also in a state of confusion whether they're willing to admit it or not.
Back when I was in grad school, and actually, before grad school, and up to this point, I do not care who discovers or passes on the truth (truth as in scientific truth). People are free to do with their own lives what they choose, to an extent. Deirdre tested the limits of this idea. Deirdre is a lover of freedom, just like I am, but one has to question whether changing gender should be tolerated.
Deirdre is the smartest person, by far, that I will probably ever meet in my life, and she is more than willing to pass it on in a way that is readily absorbed by a lesser mind - at least sometimes. Deirdre has the type of mind that can create a thought that is simple in its essence, yet so complex that analysis and extensions can be done on and on. The 'Bourgeois Virtue' ideas are a great example of this. I do not like the feminist track that Deirdre has followed in some of her research, but it's her research, and still worth reading and considering.
Oh yeah, about 'Crossing: A Memoir'? As I mentioned in the title of this review, anything written by McCloskey is worth reading. econ
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