Paul for Pete: Politics. Theatre. Life. One Man's Adventures (Or, How I Became a Septuagenarian Fanboy) chronicles author Paul Mason Barnes's inspiring, life-changing experience volunteering for Pete Buttigieg's campaign for the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Starting as a contributor, graduating to top grassroots fundraiser, and culminating with work on Pete's Arts Policy Advisory Committee (from which Barnes made a lateral transfer to Joe Biden's committee when Pete suspended his campaign), Paul for Pete recounts the author's career as a freelance theatre director working at regional theatres, festivals, and university training programs across America, his life as an openly gay man in the last half of the 20th/first part of the 21st centuries, Stonewall—Obergefell/Marriage Equality. Adventures abound as Barnes travels, often by car, from one end of the country to the other, directing musicals, classics, plays by Shakespeare, and new work all the while spreading the word about a remarkable, largely unknown mayor of a mid-size city in the heartland, who sprang into the national political consciousness, offering himself as the "polar opposite"—the antidote—to the horrors of the Trump presidency, and bringing with him intelligence, wit, a sense of calm, and above all else, of belonging.

As the threads of Barnes's political awakening criss-cross with his professional life, a major personal crisis inserts itself into his 47-years-and-counting personal relationship, testing him and his partner in essential and unexpected ways. Called "an anthem to taking a chance," an "authentic tale for the times," "a tour de force," "an astounding experience," and "a necessary book on so many levels," "Paul for Pete" provides an incisive look at the intersection of politics, theatre, and life...of the rewards of getting off the sidelines, taking action, becoming involved—and of what it is to be an American in the 21st century.