December • 2018
This December, we recognize AIDS Awareness Month. We remember those who have died, the movement to improve lives within our LGBTQ communities, and continued efforts to eradicate the disease.
Below are five books that explore how HIV and AIDS have affected the world. Check them out today (for free) at Gay City’s Michael C. Weidemann LGBTQ Library, which features more than 7,000 publications by and about our LGBTQ communities. See our full library catalog here.
1. White Nights and Ascending Shadows
by Benjamin Heim Shepard
In White Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic, Benjamin Heim Shepard recounts the human rights movement that emerged from Gay Liberation in order to fight AIDS.
2. The Boom Economy: Or, Scenes From Clerical Life
by Brian Bouldrey
This novel details character Dennis Bachus’ struggle in the 90s to accept that he may not die from his HIV infection as new life-saving drugs emerge. Dennis must reconcile his past, friendships, and lifestyle with his newfound future and the promise he made to himself to become a priest should he survive.
3. The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS
By Helen Epstein
The Invisible Cure details Helen Epstein’s AIDS intervention work in Africa, and the discoveries she makes surrounding effective infection prevention strategies in the 90s.
4. The Secret Epidemic
By Jacob Levenson
Journalist Jacob Levenson tells a story of the AIDS epidemic in the black community, seeking to explain why 50% of the U.S. population living with HIV is African American. The Secret Epidemic details the public policy and societal factors that lead to HIV infection in this
5. The Quilt
By Cindy Ruskin
Cindy Ruskin compiled photographs of quilt panels and the stories behind them in this compelling picture book. The NAMES Project was a way to memorialize loved ones lost to AIDS; quilt segments dedicated to those who died from AIDS were sewn together into a large 150 ft. by 470 ft.
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