"Robert Bauman, the ultraconservative congressman from Maryland, had everything going for him. He was a force in the corridors of power, and was instrumental in the making and breaking of careers; but Bauman's own career was destroyed overnight when headlines revewaled a sexual rendezvous with a young male hustler. In this revealing personal account, Robert Bauman tells what happened and what has followed. For the first time we learn what it is to be a homosexual in high political office. The "gay" world of our nation's capital has been hinted at for years. Here is how it really operates. Ambitious to succeed in politics since he was a boy, Robert Bauman never dared admit his homosexual preference -- not even to himself -- and married a woman who had no reason to believe he was other than the perfect husband and father to their four children. It was only under the influence of alcohol that Robert Bauman's true sexuality emerged. When his public and private image disintigrated he sought help from the Catholic Church, which offered him solace, advice, and help, but only on its own strict terms. Mr. Bauman discovered that, finally, every door was closed to him. Here is his own searingly honest story of how he came to grips with the devastating ending of one life and how he has built the beginnings of a new one."--Publisher's description.