Amazon.com (ISBN 0385484569, Paperback)

Veronica Vera is an artist, sex activist, and founder of the world's first cross-dressing academy, a truly fabulous institution that has been serving the unique educational needs of "boys who want to be girls" since 1992. Serving more than 100 students a year at her New York City campus, Miss Vera offers courses in makeup application, how to walk in high heels, etiquette for budding princesses, sex education, and, of course, getting frocked. More importantly, she teaches each member of her largely heterosexual male clientele to develop his inner femme and to "take the insights of his femmeself and integrate them into his male persona."

Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls is an informative textbook for readers who want practical advice about all things femme (complete with illustrations and homework assignments). It includes an anecdotal "herstory" of Miss Vera's experiences as a pleasure activist and gender educator and a delightful document of the transformation of the academy's students as they prance toward "gender euphoria" in high heels and glimmering tiaras. This is an indispensable guide for emerging femmes of all ages, sexes, and sexual orientations, as well as an insightful, humorous, and sassy work sure to interest all devotees of gender studies. --Julia Steinmetz