White Nights and Ascending Shadows: A History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemic (AIDS Awareness)
History not only moves quickly--it is, in essence, what happened yesterday--but it is also quickly forgotten. This is especially true when many of the people who made it are gone or dying. Benjamin Heim Shepard's beautifully composed, and wonderfully movingWhite Nights and Ascending Shadows: An Oral History of the San Francisco AIDS Epidemicis a fine and telling history of how one city faced--and still faces--the endless effects of AIDS.Based in interviews and oral histories with 30 people with AIDS, Benjamin Shepard manages to piece together more than three decades (1968-1998) of gay male life and culture. The interviews here chart not only the progress of AIDS in the gay community, but document the many manifestations of gay culture that occurred before and in response to the epidemic. Alternatively brave, fragile, furious, and mournful the men interviewed here speak their minds and force their visions and politics upon us in unforgettable ways. As a cultural, political, and medical history,White Nights and Ascending Shadowsis an important book, and the men who speak throughout it are determined that we remember who they were and what they did to preserve their lives, their families, and their culture.--Michael Bronski