Better Angels: A Retelling of Bayard Taylor's Joseph and His Friend: A Pennsylvania StoryJoseph Asten, a handsome, 23 year old farmer living in the Allegheny River Valley shortly after the Civil War, secretly longed for intimacy and love with other men. He devised a misguided plan to marry a woman who knew of his "dual nature" then his life took some unexpected, fateful turns. Bayard Taylor's Joseph and His Friend: A Pennsylvania Story is considered the first American Gay novel. Originally published in 1869 as a serial in The Atlantic,