It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
By: Jack Lowery
4.52
Format: 432 pages, Hardcover
Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize The story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back…
Want to Read $ 18.99"That free time is one of the biggest barriers to activism was, in a way, proven in the summer of 2020, as the protests over George Floyd and the slew of other Black lives lost became the most attended protests in American history. Up to twenty-six million Americans participated, a number that would be unthinkable were it not for the converging COVID-19 epidemic and the unprecedented amount of free time that accompanied it."-Jack Lowery, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
If you liked the history plot in It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery , here is a list of 10 books like this:
1. Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
By: David Wojnarowicz
4.48
Format: 288 pages, Paperback
In Close to the Knives, David Wojnarowicz gives us an important and timely document: a collection o… read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in David Wojnarowicz's Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- art
- nonfiction
- lgbt
- queer
"I carry silence like a blood-filled egg."-David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
"When they invented the car they invented the collision and the darkness of what time leads the willing body to do."-David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
"I crawled through the walls of every social taboo I could come across. I wanted to celebrate everything we are denied through structure of laws or physical force. I just did it quietly and anonymousl…"-David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
"I wanted to be physically erased and start over again. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be there. I guess I wanted to be nowhere, I wanted to listen to my brain talk inside of nothingness. …"-David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration
2. Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
By: José Esteban Muñoz
3.78
Format: None pages, Paperback
The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays… read more
Want to ReadSimilar categories in José Esteban Muñoz's Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- nonfiction
- queer
- lgbt
3. Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
By: Kit Heyam
4.30
Format: 343 pages, Hardcover
A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity Today’s narratives about trans people … read more
Want to Read $ 18.99Similar categories in Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- history
- queer
- lgbt
- nonfiction
- audiobook
"It’s not as simple as saying that ‘while the terminology is new, the experiences are not.’ The advent of new terminology can genuinely shift how we think about gender, as well as what names we give t…"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
"It's important that we, as historians or as queer people, don't treat gender and sexuality as two things that use to be entangled but have now been teased apart. There can be a tendency in white quee…"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
4. Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring
By: Brad Gooch
4.39
Format: 512 pages, Hardcover
“It’s all the grade school Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss; the adolescent acid trips; the fondness for … read more
Want to Read $ 19.99Similar categories in Brad Gooch's Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- art
- nonfiction
- history
- lgbt
5. My Government Means to Kill Me
By: Rasheed Newson
4.25
Format: 276 pages, Hardcover
A fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story following the personal and political awakening of a… read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in Rasheed Newson's My Government Means to Kill Me book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
- lgbt
- queer
"So I loved my sister, but held that love loosely in my arms, anticipating its death and mourning it as it lived"-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me
"...Generations of black men had been frequenting Mt. Morris since the Harlem Renaissance. Rumor had it that Countee Cullen ditched his wife after he and Harold Jackman made Mt. Morris their regular r…"-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me
"Zee had only grinned at me when I was valuable to her. I'd go on to tangle with other bosses and authority figures, and that dynamic never changed. Affection never outlasted need. This was the first …"-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me
"The theory goes that governmental agencies don't accidentally make accessing information or resources difficult. They do this shit on purpose. The forms are confusing, and the record keeping is ass-b…"-Rasheed Newson, My Government Means to Kill Me
6. It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror
By: Joe Vallese
4.18
Format: 298 pages, Paperback
Through the lens of horror—from "Halloween" to "Hereditary"—queer and trans writers consider the fi… read more
Want to Read $ 9.34Similar categories in Joe Vallese's It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
- nonfiction
- lgbt
- queer
"Androgyny doesn't look a certain way, though gender is ingrained in society such that liberal readings are applied to everyone, sprinkling gender on everything from haircuts to careers to alcoholic b…"-Joe Vallese, It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror
7. There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
By: Hanif Abdurraqib
4.40
Format: 352 pages, Hardcover
A poignant, personal reflection on basketball, talent and allegiance, and of course, LeBron James—f… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Hanif Abdurraqib's There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- nonfiction
- audiobook
"Heartbreak itself is a primary color. Stagnant without a series of secondary colors to activate it. Longing is an activator."-Hanif Abdurraqib, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
"With enough repetition, anything can become a religion. It doesn’t matter if it works or not, it simply matters if a person returns."-Hanif Abdurraqib, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
"It is a strange miracle to be able to trace your own aging, your own mortality through someone who's living alongside you, someone who has survived eras at the same time as you have in some of the sa…"-Hanif Abdurraqib, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
8. The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison
By: Hugh Ryan
4.45
Format: 357 pages, Hardcover
This singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window int… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Hugh Ryan's The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- history
- lgbt
- politics
- nonfiction
- social justice
- queer
9. Second Chances in New Port Stephen
By: T.J. Alexander
4.03
Format: 352 pages, Paperback
A trans man returns to his Florida hometown for Christmas after his career goes up in flames, only … read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in T.J. Alexander's Second Chances in New Port Stephen book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- lgbt
- queer
"Eli closed his eyes with a sigh. "Look, early aughts Elijah Wood was trans masc culture. When Lord of the rings -colon- The Fellowship of the Ring came out, it was the first time a short dude with gr…"-T.J. Alexander, Second Chances in New Port Stephen
10. It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
By: Jack Lowery
4.52
Format: 432 pages, Hardcover
Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize The story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back… read more
Want to Read $ 18.99Similar categories in Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
- art
- history
- health
- lgbt
- politics
- nonfiction
- social justice
- activism
- queer
"That free time is one of the biggest barriers to activism was, in a way, proven in the summer of 2020, as the protests over George Floyd and the slew of other Black lives lost became the most attende…"-Jack Lowery, It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
11. Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America
By: Marcia Chatelain
3.85
Format: 336 pages, Hardcover
Often blamed for the rising rates of obesity and diabetes among black Americans, fast food restaura… read more
Want to Read $ 9.99Similar categories in Marcia Chatelain's Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- history
- politics
- nonfiction
- social justice
- audiobook
12. Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
By: James Kirchick
4.17
Format: 848 pages, Hardcover
The New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 Named one of Vanity Fair 's “Be… read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in James Kirchick's Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
- history
- lgbt
- politics
- nonfiction
- queer
"Washington, it has been said, is Hollywood for ugly people."-James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
"Scratch the surface and what do you get?" asked Way Bandy, the two-thousand-dollars-a-day make up artist who "designed" Nancy's face. "More surface."-James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
"The following year, Kramer would put on Just Say No, "a play about a farce" based in the fictional country of New Columbia, wherein everyone call's the president "Daddy", the First Lady is a harridan…"-James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
"It was 3:15 in the morning of June 26, 1980, and Congressman Bob Livingston was extraordinarily drunk, hiding in the Congressional Gym beneath the Rayburn House Office Building, petrified that a team…"-James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
13. Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil
By: Ananda Lima
3.52
Format: 181 pages, Hardcover
At a Halloween party in 1999, a writer slept with the devil. She sees him again and again throughou… read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Ananda Lima's Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
14. The Deep Dark
By: Molly Knox Ostertag
4.42
Format: 480 pages, Paperback
From Molly Knox Ostertag, writer-illustrator, comes a darkly beautiful story of identity, family, l… read more
Want to Read $ 10.99Similar categories in Molly Knox Ostertag's The Deep Dark book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- lgbt
- queer
15. Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV
By: Emily Nussbaum
4.02
Format: 464 pages, Hardcover
Who invented reality TV, the world’s most dangerous pop-culture genre, and why can’t we look away f… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Emily Nussbaum's Cue the Sun!: The Invention of Reality TV book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- nonfiction
- history
- audiobook
16. The Z Word
By: Lindsay King-Miller
3.48
Format: 256 pages, Paperback
“Sexy, scathing, delightful, and intimately devastating.”—Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt… read more
Want to Read $ 10.99Similar categories in Lindsay King-Miller's The Z Word book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- lgbt
- queer
17. Your Lonely Nights Are Over
By: Adam Sass
4.03
Format: 416 pages, Hardcover
Scream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friend… read more
Want to Read $ 10.99Similar categories in Adam Sass's Your Lonely Nights Are Over book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- audiobook
- lgbt
- queer
18. When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
By: John Ganz
4.23
Format: 432 pages, Hardcover
A lively, revelatory look back at the convulsions at the end of the Reagan era―and their dark legac… read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in John Ganz's When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- politics
- history
- nonfiction
- audiobook
19. When Brooklyn Was Queer
By: Hugh Ryan
4.31
Format: 308 pages, Hardcover
The groundbreaking, never-before-told story of Brooklyn’s vibrant and forgotten queer history, from… read more
Want to Read $ 9.99Similar categories in Hugh Ryan's When Brooklyn Was Queer book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- history
- queer
- lgbt
- nonfiction
- audiobook
20. Little Rot
By: Akwaeke Emezi
3.67
Format: 288 pages, Hardcover
A thrilling new novel from the bestselling, award-winning Akwaeke Emezi, about five friends trying … read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in Akwaeke Emezi's Little Rot book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- lgbt
- queer
21. The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
By: Jesselyn Cook
4.45
Format: 272 pages, Hardcover
The riveting story of five families shattered by pernicious, pervasive conspiracy theories, and how… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Jesselyn Cook's The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family book and Jack Lowery's It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic
- politics
- history
- nonfiction
- audiobook
