Hey y’all. I’m hoping someone can point me in the direction of some good nonfiction books about the epidemic.
I’m thinking maybe memoirs and first-hand accounts of people who were there in hospital settings, or members of the LGBTQ community who looked after the sick. Maybe something chronicling the Reagan administration’s (non) efforts to combat the virus. Preferably US centered but not a strict requirement.
by Psychological_Dig922
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I’ve always heard the definitive book was And The Band Played On. However I have not read it so I can’t speak from experience.
Reports from the Holocaust: The Making of an AIDS Activist by Larry Kramer
All The Young Men is a memoir. Highly recommend.
And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts. And while it isn’t a book, nor is it non-fiction, there was a movie with a number of famous actors in it that chronicled quite realistically what life was like during the AIDS crisis for gay men in particular called “Longtime Companion.” I believe you can watch it on YouTube for free now. I lived through the AIDS crisis and lost my best friend to it. The end of the movie will absolutely break your heart but it’s as real as it was.
Chronicle of a Plague by Andrew Holleran
On Christopher Street: Life, Sex, and Death after Stonewall by Michael Denneny.
All the young men by Ruth Coker Burks
Andrew Holleran, Edmund White and Andrew Faulk have a number of good books on their experiences.
Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1983 is a collection of oral histories. And it doesn’t repeat the false narrative that white men were at the center of the crisis.