For avid readers of a certain age, there are times when parts of your life that still feel like yesterday begin to be presented as history. Two important new books: How to Survive a Plague by David France (Knopf, $30. www.davidfrance.com) and When We Rise by Cleve Jones (Hachette Books, $27. www.clevejones.com), will bring on many such moments for Passportreaders who lived through the 1980s and experienced the brunt of the AIDS epidemic in the United States first-hand.
A more in-depth exploration of the subjects France covered in his Oscar-nominated 2012 documentary of the same title, Plague is a sweeping epic of the often fractious collaboration between everyman activists and brilliant scientists that marked the rise of ACT UP and the Treatment Action Group and, ultimately, created a radical transformation of government and medical protocols. Bound to fill many readers with the bitterest nostalgia and deepest gratitude, it will also fan the embers of righteous, decades-old anger, a valuable emotion in today’s American political climate.
Thoroughly researched with a wide range of perspectives, Plague is nonetheless sparked with France’s first-person engagement. An early AIDS activist himself, the author brings a fervent intensity to his prose that helps power the reader through a story sometimes as complex as it is tragic. In light of the recent debunking of the Patient Zero narrative confabulated by Randy Shilts in And the Band Played On, France’s book is likely to become the definitive chronicle of our country’s response to what was first laughed off by many as a well-deserved “gay cancer.”
Where France covers the breadth and intricacy of the fight against AIDS, Cleve Jones tells his story (which encompasses not only AIDS, but the entire gay rights revolution, from the 1970s onward) from his own singular point of view in When We Rise. Rich in Zelig-esque anecdotes, Jones recalls his personal involvement in key historical moments and movements (Gay teen in 1970s San Francisco, political firebrand under the wing of Harvey Milk, and creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt). While used as source material for the similarly titled February mini-series on ABC Television, Jones book better captures its author’s thoughtful, funny, and passionate voice as he bears witness to an era of remarkable change.
