Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America

by John-Manuel Andriote

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226020495
• ISBN13: 9780226020495
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 494 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Victory Deferred: AIDS Inside the Gay Community

We have waited for a voice within the gay community to relate what AIDS has done and continues to do to our souls. Andiote bares that soul to the scrutiny of a verteran journalist and writer. He descibes the gay community's response to the AIDS epidemic. He outlines the growth the community made in the process. He isn't afraid to criticize where appropriate.He tells the stories of the heroes of and the commentators on the epidemic. He delves, for example, into the internal machinations of a community trying to deal with safer sex and outlines both successes and failures. He indentifies the ongoing crisis and politics of promoting behavior change in the most intimate aspect of our lives. Through this type of no holds barred reporting that Andriote conveys the impact of AIDS on a community struggling to free itself from past and present disease related definitions.Andriote's research is thorough, interviewing two hundred activitist and paritcipants. These individuals tell the story of a gay movement catapulted to the forefront of America's consciousness. He starts well before rhe empidemic and couches it in the context of a liberation stuggle. He tells the insider's story.Victory Deferred will supplant Randy Shilt's And the Band Played On as the dinifitive story of one community heroically responding to the health crisis of the century.

It's not over till it's over

John-Manuel Andriote has accomplished a momumental task in this historical and moving account of the AIDS epidemic. He has done an exhaustive study of the progression of this disease and has intervied people from the trenches to the board rooms.As a journalist he has kept a focus on reporting the facts, as a gay man he has infused each chapter with the passion that comes from loosing so many friends and loved ones.He has a keen eye to connect so many different facets and factions and does not hold back in speaking the truth as he has discovered it. AIDS has certainly not only just changed gay life in America, it has changed life in America.I give this book five stars and know that it will be a work that I will refer to over and over in the years ahead.

A must read

Mr. Andriote's excellent book is a must read for anyone interested in the major events that have shaped the last three decades of the 20th century. It is an excellent and thoughtful overview of the tragic social, political and economic events that shaped the response to the AIDS epidemic. This book should be mandatory reading in colleges, medical schools and schools of public health.

The book is great!

This book is very well written. It's obvious that a lot of hard work and time were put into it. The author is a truly gifted writer. I hope he continues his efforts and we see a lot more his work here.