Two new releases, and one essential guide from 2015, round out our list of MUST-READS for the new year
When We Rise: My Life in the Movement
by Cleve Jones
Hachette Books, 2016.
Cleve Jones, the co-founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, recounts his remarkable life story in this new memoir written entirely in his own words. From his early childhood growing up being bullied in school first in a suburb of Pittsburgh, and then when his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to the gay liberation movement of the 1970s in San Francisco, and then within the grim epicenter of the AIDS epidemic of the ’80s and ’90s, Jones captures a moment in time and a movement that resonates even more today. With a number of funny and tender moments and a slew of unforgettable characters woven throughout, you will find it difficult to put this one down. When We Rise is the partial inspiration for the forthcoming ABC television miniseries of the same name, from Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and executive producer Gus Van Sant. clevejones.com
How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS
by David France
Alfred A. Knopf, 2016
Written by the creator of the Oscar-nominated documentary of the same name, How to Survive a Plague is the riveting story of the grassroots movement of activists, many of them in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. David France describes the founding of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group), and the activists who helped forge the way for treatments that saved the lives of 16 million people living with HIV. Drawing upon his own experiences as a young gay man in New York, and with unparalleled access to this community, France honors previously unknown activist heroes, and even more importantly, ensures that the victims of the plague years won’t be forgotten. davidfrance.com
Lust, Men and Meth: A Gay Guide to Sex and Recovery
by David Fawcett, PhD
Healing Path Press, 2015
David Fawcett provides the first practical resource for recovery from methamphetamine and the restoration of healthy sex and intimacy. Based on over a decade of clinical experience and research, Dr. Fawcett outlines the seductive appeal of methamphetamine and its impact on high-risk behaviors and sexual desire, resulting in the fusion of meth and sex in the brain. Such patterns of use quickly lead not only to a devastating addiction but sexual dysfunction as well.
Illustrated with examples from dozens of cases, this book outlines a path toward healing, describing the phases of physical, emotional, and sexual recovery and provides a broad range of supportive tools from managing triggers to mindfulness. david-fawcett.com
Available at a bookstore near you and through online booksellers.