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'As one generation grows up with the misconception that AIDS is nothing more than a manageable illness, another grows old with the fear that the epidemic's early days will disappear into the fog of history. How to Survive a Plague is the book for both generations. France has pulled off the seemingly impossible here, invoking the terror and confusion of those dark times while simultaneously providing a clear-eyed timeline of the epidemic's emergence and the disparate, often dissonant forces that emerged to fight it.' Dale Peck
Praise for David France:
Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal
'Generous, authoritative, smart, powerful . . . The admiration David France earns is rivaled only by the heartbreak and indignation generated by his brave, important book.' San Francisco Chronicle
'Superb . . . The strength of Our Fathers is its anecdotal detail and psychological insight.' Washington Post
'No matter how thoroughly this material has been presented by other reporters, the effect of this cumulative retelling is devastating.' New York Times
How to Survive a Plague
'The currents of rage, fear, fiery determination and finally triumph that crackle through David France's inspiring documentary . . . lend this history of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power a scorching electrical charge.' New York Times
'Made me realise how ignorant I was . . . An absolutely brilliant film.' Catherine Shoard, Guardian
'Extraordinary! It's moving, it's engaging, it's uplifting, it is ultimately empowering.' Mark Kermode, BBC Radio 5 Live
'Expansive, passionately conceived and wildly moving' Daily Telegraph
'An exceptional portrait of a community in crisis and the focused fury of its response . . . [The] film succeeds not just as a vivid chronicle of recent history but as a primer in grassroots activism.' Los Angeles Times
About the author
David France is the author of Our Fathers, a book about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal, which Showtime adapted into a film. His documentary How to Survive A Plague was a 2012 Oscars nominee, won a Directors Guild Award and a Peabody Award, and was nominated for two Emmys, among other accolades.
Praise for David France:
How to Survive a Plague
'How to Survive a Plague is a rare film that is both art and history. It transports us back to a time when HIV/AIDS was a mysterious killer, and then takes us on a journey that ultimately celebrates the activist heroes who saved millions of lives.' Elton John
'The currents of rage, fear, fiery determination and finally triumph that crackle through David France's inspiring documentary... lend [it] a scorching electrical charge.' New York Times
'Made me realise how ignorant I was... An absolutely brilliant film.' Catherine Shoard, Guardian
'Extraordinary! It's moving, it's engaging, it's uplifting, it is ultimately empowering.' Mark Kermode, BBC Radio 5 Live
'Expansive, passionately conceived and wildly moving' Daily Telegraph
Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal
'Generous, authoritative, smart, powerful . . . The admiration David France earns is rivaled only by the heartbreak and indignation generated by his brave, important book.' San Francisco Chronicle
'Superb . . . The strength of Our Fathers is its anecdotal detail and psychological insight.' Washington Post
'No matter how thoroughly this material has been presented by other reporters, the effect of this cumulative retelling is devastating.' New York Times
Summary
Winner of The Green Carnation Prize for LGBTQ literature
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT non-fiction
Shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2017
'This superbly written chronicle will stand as a towering work in its field' Sunday Times
'Inspiring, uplifting and necessary reading' - Steve Silberman author of Neurotribes, Financial Times
How to Survive a Plague by David France is the riveting, powerful and profoundly moving story of the AIDS epidemic and the grass-roots movement of activists, many of them facing their own life-or-death struggles, who grabbed the reins of scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV from a mostly fatal infection to a manageable disease. Around the globe, the 15.8 million people taking anti-AIDS drugs today are alive thanks to their efforts.
Not since the publication of Randy Shilts's now classic And the Band Played On in 1987 has a book sought to measure the AIDS plague in such brutally human, intimate, and soaring terms.
Weaving together the stories of dozens of individuals, this is an insider's account of a pivotal moment in our history and one that changed the way that medical science is practised worldwide.
Foreword
'Epoch-making . . . Brilliantly told. Informative, entertaining, suspenseful, moving, and personal.' Edmund White
Additional text
An epochal book . . . the story this book raises to the level of poet Siegfried Sassoon’s First World War and writer Primo Levi’s Holocaust is the access and influence a group of privileged white men demanded and got in the medical and pharmaceutical corridors of power… The reporting and research that made this book are exquisite, the scenes and people painted test the limits of what’s bearable . . . As much a monument as any AIDS memorial.
