“The Fight of Our Lives” — a book by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels about the HIV crisis in the US
A journalistic history of the epidemic told through chronicles and interviews.
“The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America” is a book by American authors David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels about the history of the HIV epidemic in the United States, published in English by Knopf. In the context of the history of LGBT activism in the US, the book recounts how the government’s neglect of the epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s forced the community to fight on its own for its rights, access to treatment, and public attention.
David Levithan is a well-known American writer and editor, author of numerous books for teens and young adults. Gabriel Duckels is a researcher and writer. Together they created a historical overview addressed to a wide range of readers, including a young audience.
The book tells the story of the development of the HIV and AIDS crisis in the US in the form of a journalistic history. In it, the chronicle of events is supplemented with excerpts from interviews, archival documents, and stories about cultural shifts, protest movements, public debates, and media reactions.
The text pays attention to key figures and phenomena of that time, including activist Larry Kramer, the organization ACT UP, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt — a huge quilt created in memory of the victims of the disease. The authors also remind readers that the problem remains relevant today, as access to modern therapy is still unevenly distributed.