Retrospect

The author found himself increasingly at odds with vestries and bishops and disenchanted with the church as an effective instrument for promoting the social change that he thought essential for dealing with the problems of individuals due to his intense involvement in the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s. The liberation of his subjects liberated the researcher; whereas the anonymity and lack of commitment of the tearoom participants forced him to write of them in a cool, dispassionate manner that some readers interpreted as a lack of concern. Given that author&s;s primary ethical concern was to safeguard respondents from the many dangers that might have attended their exposure, he can only hope that those who read the book and this retrospect will understand the necessity for ellipses and cautious reporting on his part.