A rousing and readable history, mammoth in scope yet minute in
detail. Through countless interviews with what appears to be
everyone remotely connected to the AIDS crisis from the 1970s until
yesterday, Washington-based journalist Andriote captures the
overwhelming grief and boundless love encountered within the gay
community during its long fight against the viral terror. Combining
journalistic accuracy with ethical critiques of those who have
ignored or exploited AIDS, Victory Deferred fearlessly analyzes the
darkest moments of the plague, such as the bilking of the crisis by
a few "charities" concerned more with raising funds for
administrators than with fighting the disease. The outlook is never
entirely bleak, however, as Andriote counterbalances the awesome
weight of AIDS with moments of small victories, the times of
healing which illustrate that the worst situations often bring out
a person's best. A voice of conscience for the gay community, which
has often been hesitant to point out the connections between unsafe
sex and HIV infection for fear such a call could be deemed antisex,
Andriote speaks calmly for a moral ballast that will serve this
community well when the AIDS crisis has indeed been weathered.
Judicious choices in which stories to tell would at times have
created more compelling reading; Andriote provides such an
extensive range of material that depth is sometimes lost to the
sheer number of narratives. This shortfall also leads to
problematic generalizations, momentary conflations of parts of the
gay community into rigid identity blocs. An individual's experience
is often a troublesome source from which to draw larger conclusions
about a diverse group of people. Nonetheless, Andriote relates with
simplicity, compassion, and heart an essentially optimistic tale of
the gay community's discovery of itself as a force for change
beyond the sexual realm. The most important AIDS chronicle since
Randy Shilts's And the Band Played On. (Kirkus Reviews)
There is no question that AIDS has been, and continues to be, one
of the most destructive diseases of the century, taking thousands
of lives, devastating communities, and exposing prejudice and
bigotry. But AIDS has also been a disease of transformation--it has
fueled the national gay civil rights movement, altered medical
research and federal drug testing, shaken up both federal and local
politics, and inspired a vast cultural outpouring. "Victory
Deferred," the most comprehensive account of the epidemic in more
than ten years, is the history of both the destruction and
transformation wrought by AIDS.
John-Manuel Andriote chronicles the impact of the disease from the
coming-out revelry of the 1970s to the post-AIDS gay community of
the 1990s, showing how it has changed both individual lives and
national organizations. He tells the truly remarkable story of how
a health crisis pushed a disjointed jumble of local activists to
become a nationally visible and politically powerful civil rights
movement, a full-fledged minority group challenging the authority
of some of the nation's most powerful institutions. Based on
hundreds of interviews with those at the forefront of the medical,
political, and cultural
responses to the disease, "Victory Deferred" artfully blends
personal narratives with institutional histories and organizational
politics to show how AIDS forced gay men from their closets and
ghettos into the hallways of power to lobby and into the streets to
protest.
Andriote, who has been at the center of national advocacy and AIDS
politics in Washington, is judicious without being uncritical, and
his account of the political maturation of the gay community is one
of the most stirring civil rights stories of our time.
"Victory Deferred" draws on hundreds of original interviews,
including first-hand accounts from: Virginia Apuzzo, Reverend Carl
Bean, Marcus Conant, M.D., John D'Emilio, Anthony Fauci, M.D,
Fenton Johnson, Larry Kramer, Lawrence D. Mass, M.D., Armistead
Maupin, Walt Odets, Torie Osborn, Eric Rofes, Urvashi Vaid, Timothy
Westmoreland, and Reggie Williams.
" "Victory Deferred"] is a richly textured account of the rise of
the AIDS sector, that though detailed and comprehensive, reads
quickly. The thematic organization of the book works especially
well. The clear chronology of the events reveals how competing
models of service delivery, treatment activism and private-public
cooperation were subsumed into a national AIDS movement. The book
should prove excellent for teaching or recreational reading."--Jose
Gabilondo, "Washington Post"
" A] fine history of the epidemic. . . . Andriote shines with
chapters on less-covered but no less important subjects, including
the multibillion-dollar 'AIDS industry' and private fund-raising
groups. He brings together in one place many facts and figures
heretofore unsynthesized."--Joe R. Neel, "Boston Globe"
"While many books have explored aspects of the impact of AIDS,
"Victory Deferred" is among the most comprehensive. Andriote's
adroit integration of the personal and the historical results is an
illustrative, analytical account of the disease and its impact on
the gay civil-rights movement. His depiction of the poignant
struggles, heroic responses and resultant social and political
gains emanating from AIDS is a perceptive document for our
time--relevant to all readers, regardless of their sexual
orientation."--John R. Killacky, "Minneapolis Star Tribune"
" A] well-researched and nuanced portrait of the many lives on
which this grave disease has wrought both destruction and
transformation."--"Publishers Weekly"
"Andriote combines broad strokes and telling details in this
engaging history of the complicated war against both disease and
bigotry."--"Library Journal"
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