Westmoreland, Joe - Tramps Like Us (2001)
11-22-2025, 12:11 PM
"A spare, unflinching, generous and lusty masterpiece of adventure writing." — Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
"A necessary reminder of the beauty of being young and queer and free. This book is a gift." ― Imogen Binnie, author of Nevada
"An achievement, in the major category." ― Hilton Als, author of My Pinup
A treasured cult classic following a young gay man crisscrossing 1970s and '80s America in search of salvation. Now reissued with an introduction from Eileen Myles and an afterword from the author.
Abused by his father & stifled by closeted life as a teenager in Kansas City, Joe, the wide-eyed narrator of Tramps Like Us, graduates from high school in 1974 & hits the road hitchhiking. But it isn’t until he reunites with Ali, his hometown’s other queer outcast, that Joe finds a partner in crime. When the two of them finally wash up in New Orleans, they discover a hedonistic paradise of sex, drugs, & music, a world that only expands when they move to San Francisco in 1979.
Told with openhearted frankness, Joe Westmoreland’s Tramps Like Us is an exuberantly soulful adventure of self-discovery & belonging, set across a consequential American decade. In New Orleans & San Francisco, & on the roads in between, Joe & Ali find communities of misfits to call their own. The days & nights blur, a blend of LSD & heroin, new wave & disco, orgies & friends, & the thrilling spontaneity of youth—all of which is threatened the moment Joe, Ali, & seemingly everyone around them are diagnosed with HIV. But miraculously, the stories survive. As Eileen Myles writes, “I love this book most of all because it is so mortal.”
Back in print after two decades & with an introduction by Myles & an afterword by the author, Tramps Like Us is an ode to a nearly lost generation, an autofictional chronicle of America between gay liberation & the AIDS crisis, & an evergreen testament to the force of friendship.
Joe Westmoreland is the author of the novel Tramps Like Us, originally published in 2001. His writing has appeared in several anthologies, zines, & catalogues for art exhibitions.