Fight AIDS!
How Activism, Art, and Protest Changed the Course of a Deadly Epidemic and Reshaped a Nation
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Acclaimed author Michael G. Long tells the story of the devastating AIDS crisis and the trailblazing activists who fought for dignity, compassion, and treatment.
Act up! Fight back! Fight AIDS!
This was the slogan for ACT UP—or AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power—an activist organization that emerged in the 1980s during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The group was loud, direct, and confrontational as it fought for access to treatment, compassionate care, and recognition for everyone with HIV and AIDS.
Tracing the history of the LGBTQ+ community from the Stonewall Riots and “gay liberation” movements to the groundbreaking protests of the 1980s and 1990s, Fight AIDS! is a gripping narrative of the AIDS epidemic for young readers, told through the lens of the activism it fostered. Focusing on the people most directly affected by the crisis and on the individuals who fought for justice, it is an intimate and humane account of one of the most devastating eras in United States history and an electrifying celebration of the power ordinary citizens have to enact meaningful change.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Before he was a renowned AIDS activist, Larry Kramer (1935–2020) was a gay man urgently seeking answers for the mysterious illness he was living with. "I don't think anybody is going to give a damn, and it's really up to you guys to do something," his doctor told him, a declaration that kick-started Kramer's—and many others'—advocacy efforts. Mixing wrenching, atmospheric narrative with frank, informative prose, Long (King: A Life) chronicles such endeavors in this timely U.S.-focused volume about the AIDS epidemic. Dividing the work into 10 parts—bookended by a section of basic AIDS facts and an epilogue—the author first outlines queer history as it stood before the outbreak began, starting with the Stonewall Riots. Subsequent chapters detail events from 1980 to the late 1990s, including how the unknown illness caused widespread terror within the gay community as well as confusion among health professionals. As more about the disease is uncovered, activist organizations such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power advocate for queer rights and healthcare reform by creating clinics and protesting in front of the White House, historic moments that Long captures with reverence. It's a compassionate offering that celebrates the community's perseverance just as loudly as it mourns its losses. Images of the "visual art that raised awareness about AIDS" open each chapter; b&w photographs appear throughout. Ages 14–up.
