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Let the Record Show

A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993
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( 1,532 ratings, 314 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman is an insightful exploration of the history and impact of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, during the height of the AIDS crisis. Schulman documents the group's activism, strategies, and personal stories, capturing a crucial time in LGBTQ+ and medical history. This book offers a compelling and detailed account of the fight for survival and justice.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you are interested in a deeply researched and powerful account of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and its impact on both activism and policy changes during the AIDS crisis. It offers firsthand insights and interviews, highlighting the resilience and determination of a community fighting for survival and justice.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In just six years, ACT UP, New York, a broad and unlikely coalition of activists from all races, genders, sexualities, and backgrounds, changed the world. Armed with rancour, desperation, intelligence, and creativity, it took on the AIDS crisis with an indefatigable, ingenious, and multifaceted attack on the corporations, institutions, governments, and individuals who stood in the way of AIDS treatment for all.

They stormed the FDA and NIH in Washington, DC, and started needle exchange programmes in New York; they took over Grand Central Terminal and fought to change the legal definition of AIDS to include women. They transformed the American insurance industry, weaponised art and advertising to push their agenda, and battled—and beat—The New York Times, the Catholic Church, and the pharmaceutical industry. Their activism, in its complex and intersectional power, transformed the lives of people with AIDS and the bigoted society that had abandoned them.

Based on more than two hundred interviews with ACT UP members and rich with lessons for today's activists, Let the Record Show is a revelatory exploration—and long-overdue reassessment—of the coalition's inner workings, conflicts, achievements, and ultimate fracture. Schulman, one of the most revered queer writers and thinkers of her generation, explores the how and the why, examining, with her characteristic rigour and bite, how a group of desperate outcasts changed America forever, and in the process created a livable future for generations of people across the world.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman is celebrated for its comprehensive and immersive account of ACT UP, an influential political organisation during the AIDS crisis. Reviewers commend its depth, mixing testimony and history to offer a crucial narrative on activism. The book is described as both a historical document and a contemporary guide, praised for highlighting diverse voices and the complexities within the movement. It is noted for its readability despite its length, engaging readers deeply and serving as a vital resource for understanding and inspiring social change.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781250849120

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 17 May 2022

Country: United States

Imprint: St Martin's Press

Illustration: 16 Pages of Black-and-White Images; 21 Black-and-White Images in Text / 2 Appendixes, Time Line, Index

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 33.0mm

Width: 136.0mm

Height: 208.0mm

Weight: 552g

Pages: 752

About the Author

Sarah Schulman is the author of more than twenty works of fiction (including The Cosmopolitans, Rat Bohemia, and Girls, Visions and Everything), nonfiction (among them Stagestruck, My American History, The Gentrification of the Mind), and theater (Carson McCullers, Manic Flight Reaction, and more), and the producer and screenwriter of several feature films (The Owls, Mommy Is Coming, and United in Anger, among others). Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, and many other outlets. She is a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at College of Staten Island, a Fellow at the New York Institute of Humanities, the recipient of multiple fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and was presented in 2018 with Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award. She is also the cofounder of the MIX New York LGBT Experimental Film and Video Festival, and the co-director of the groundbreaking ACT UP Oral History Project. A lifelong New Yorker, she is a longtime activist for queer rights and female empowerment, and serves on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

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