GOING TO TRINIDAD is an intricately researched history of gender reassignment surgery and the surgical pioneers who, despite the opinions of others, cared deeply about the suffering of those who had to live in the body that felt alien to them. This empathy drove Dr. Stanley Biber to become the go-to, preeminent surgeon for gender reassignment surgery.

Instead of opening his clinic in an urban city, Dr. Biber established his clinic in an unlikely location - a small town in Colorado close to New Mexico that had previously been a hub for the mining industry; that town was named Trinidad.

This book tells the story of two patients who underwent gender reassignment surgery in Trinidad, Colorado. Both had very different experiences. One was thrilled to finally have the inside match the outside whereas the other patient ended up with very different results.

This book is not a "how to guide," nor is it advocating either for or against the surgery. Instead, it is a work of nonfiction of a snapshot in time. I think this book is important. I have to say that I learned quite a bit about the details of the procedure itself, as well as about the prevailing attitudes at the time.

I found the empathy and compassion of Dr. Biber for his patients inspiring. Dr. Marci Bowers was his transgender protege who has since taken over his medical practice and has moved its location.

Anyone who is interested in, an ally of, or a member themselves of the LGBTQIA2S+ community should absolutely read this book.

Written in sufficient detail that the reader will come away with a feeling of deep awareness and empathy for those who suffer from gender dysphoria. Readers will also come to profoundly respect doctors Biber and Bowers.

I am rating it as 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ because once I started reading, I was unable to put it down.

{Digital copy provided by NetGalley}

I had high hopes for this book but what I found was a work that tried to be too many things at once, leaving it a disorganised mess. Principally this book focuses on four people who are all connected to the gender affirming surgical work done for decades in the small town of Trinidad, Colorado. Two of the doctors perfoming the procedures and two of one of the doctors patients with different views on their experiences. In between facts about Trinidad, the interpersonal lives of these people often over a span of decades, as well as a variety of content related to transgender identity, history, and medicine, this quickly becomes crowded. I also found the writing style of the author of inconsistent quality and his approach especially at the start of the book to be a bit outdated. In general this is a book by an outsider who has no personal connection or knowledge to any of the subject matter except living in the same state and it shows. Valiant efforts were made, but overall this book disappointed me. The only thing I am taking away from it positively is encouraging me to read further into several of the people and subjects mentioned.

I was very interested to learn more about trans history, especially something which inspired an entire euphemism I’ve never heard of. I appreciated the history itself and the fact that the author reflects on broader trends in the trans experience. However, like several other reviewers I see, I disagreed with the way and the extent that Walt Heyer’s story was included. I do think it’s important not to create this impossible standard for gender confirmation surgery, where we do not acknowledge there are SOME people who have regrets about it. On the other hand, not only do all surgeries have SOME people with regrets, gender confirmation surgeries have a very low percentage of that population. While the author acknowledges this, the main perspective of this book focuses on someone who not only has regrets but claims everyone else does, also. There’s even a section at the end of the book where someone tells the author that sensational stories like this get too much attention. It seems very ironic to have that self awareness in a book that…spends so much of its pages giving this story too much attention.

In elegant and honest prose, Smith gives readers a further glimpse into the lives of transgender individuals and their struggles with the specifics of transitioning, socially and medically. A must read for educators, families, and friends of transgender folx, as well as those interested in the history of the community itself.

Thank you to netgalley for the e-arc

Honestly, I really loved most of this book. Learning more about Dr. Biber and his practice was really interesting, and the chapters detailing Claudine Griggs journey through surgery and the aftermath was too.

However, I didn’t like the author’s choice to include Walt Heyer’s testimony. Heyer is not transgender, he suffers from many mental illnesses and due to misdiagnosis from his therapist he went through with hormone therapy and a sex change surgery he deeply regrets. He writes about this regret all the time, and advocates for the fact that most people who get the sex change surgery end up regretting it, which is simply false.

While stories like these are important to recognize while talking about the dangers of misdiagnosis or therapists making quick calls and not taking them back, I think it was counterproductive to focus almost a third of the book on a mentally ill cis man who advocates against a surgery which can be lifesaving for many trans individuals. Heyer has a right to be upset, he has a right to feel violated because he went under the knife when he was not in his right mind, he even has a right to feel as though his medical team failed him. He does NOT have the right to advocate in the way he does.

Dr. Biber’s work helped over 6,000 trans people between 1969 and 2010, and the majority of his patients were much better off for it. His work was invaluable to the trans community, especially in an age where so many people had never even heard of “transgender” or the more common term back then “transsexual”.

I would absolutely recommend this book, it is a piece of trans history you shouldn’t miss out on. Just remember that Walt Heyer is the outlier, not the norm.