Literary Nonfiction. LGBT Studies. Memoir. A PASSIONATE ENGAGEMENT is both a love story and a story of political activism. In this remarkable memoir, Ken Harvey reveals his own experience of coming out as a gay man, of meeting and falling in love with the man who would become his husband, and of growing into a social and political activist. Much of the story is filled with the kind of sensitive writing that Harvey demonstrated in his earlier work, but this book also shows a different side as he moves from the fictional to nonfictional, as he puts himself bluntly in the middle of the conflict. As the book progresses, the reader moves with Harvey from outside observer to inside participant of the political struggle for same-sex marriage. His shift is significant, and a reader can't help but be moved along with him. This is a timely and important book, one that puts a truly human face onto this important social movement.

In the fall of 1980, young Casey Adair begins a year of postgraduate theater research in Spain, then on the verge of a military coup. As he attends plays and dinner parties, visits gay bars, and becomes increasingly involved in protests, Casey's correspondence reveals intimate confessions and new understandings. He falls in love with a man named Octavio, gets a role in a major theatrical production, and revels in the awakening of his own sexuality and social consciousness. Then, a visit from his college friend Poppy leads to an emotionally charged evening that changes their lives forever. Three years later Casey is an educator in Boston, trying to balance finding his voice as an AIDS activist, dealing with an intolerant headmaster, and rebuilding a relationship with his daughter. As dear friends fall ill to the virus, he struggles to understand how his many identities-father, teacher, caretaker, dissident, lover, husband-can coexist. In a world that asks so much of us, what is our responsibility to others and ourselves?