what? i'm totally trustworthy
Soon there will be fic, I promise, I swear.
In the meantime, though, a friend said that I should post book recs, seeing as my brain is full of books and this is essentially doing no one any good. So, okay. Maybe this can be a thing. If only to amuse myself, because talking about books is a hobby. :D
Today, Randy Shilts fangirling!
Which is a strange choice for a first rec post, because I don't read nonfiction all that often, and when I do, it's almost never political. But then, that's a ringing endorsement in itself. Randy Shilts made even me interested in modern politics and social injustice.
The man can tell a story. The fact that the stories are true only makes them more interesting.
"I think of him as a classic journalist. Somebody who took the almost romantic notion of being a journalist, totally believed it, and lived it out."
--Michael Denneny on Randy Shilts
The amazing thing about Randy Shilts is that he deeply investigated things that were epically horrible, yet still somehow had the ability to remain optimistic. We're talking about someone who watched--was extremely involved in--the AIDS epidemic, and still had it in him to say, in essence, "We can recover from this; we can learn from this; humans can be better than this."
Informed optimism is...well. It impresses the hell out of me; I'm not an optimistic soul. And certainly ignorant optimism is nothing to be proud of, but to be so informed and still believe in the possibility of improvement...wow.
He did get steadily more jaded and disappointed over the course of the three books, but he never lost that sense of hope completely. Yes. I just want to be him. Apart from the bit where he died tragically young.
The Mayor of Castro Street
His first and most optimistic book. This is the biography of Harvey Milk, the man who made the Castro. (Is there anything more awesome than someone you love writing a biography about someone else you love? I think not.)
Harvey Milk was a fascinating (and strangely adorable) guy, and more, he was the right guy in the right place at the right time. Randy Shilts really manages to capture all of that; the wacky fantasticness that was San Francisco in the '70s, and the way Harvey was absolutely suited to be the person who came in and made it even crazier. This is almost as much a biography of San Francisco as it is of Harvey Milk. (A city can so have a biography. Have you met San Francisco? It's got a personality. In fact, it's clearly up to something.)
Harvey Milk gets touted as a gay rights campaigner, which, of course, he was. But he was a campaigner for just about every other minority, too, and I think that gets overlooked more than it should. Hell, there should be more minorities banding together against the Man. Why aren't there?
This is also a "one man can change the world" sort of book. And it's sad, because he did change the world, but then he died, and the world, in many ways, changed back. But he's an example. It was done before; it can be done again. And there has been progress. Slow, but progress. You find yourself clinging to Randy Shilts's optimism.
On a related note, I once had the following conversation with a middle-aged man I met in the bookstore who was buying the new Armistead Maupin book:
Guy: I hear they're making that movie about Harvey Milk's life.
ket: Yeah. I was excited when I thought Bryan Singer was going to do it, but now I don't know.
Guy: I'm worried too.
ket: They're not really going to use Sean Penn, are they? That would be awful.
Guy: Oh, God, that would be awful. I used to work in Harvey's camera store, you know? I don't want to see his life all...ruined by Hollywood.
ket: ...YOU WORKED FOR HARVEY?
Guy: Hmm? Yeah. Had kind of a part-time thing worked out. We used to get into these huge debates.... Well. Of course I was a militant young lesbian then.
ket: *in awe of this whole conversation*
Guy: But I was looking at this picture of me and Harvey standing on Castro in...I guess it was the mid-70s? And I think it was a nicer place when we were more oppressed. Everyone was so friendly--you could just strike up conversations with anyone on the street. Then you started getting that whole clone effect. I don't know. Anyway, have a good day!
ket: ...it's been so good talking to you.
*dazzled*
And then as it developed, Sean Penn did a shockingly awesome job. So there you go. We worried over nothing.
And The Band Played On
Justly his most famous book. This is the story of the AIDS epidemic.
The amount of research--and the depth of research--is dazzling. And unlike any other book I've read that was this well-researched, he never fell into the trap of getting hung up on minor details that are really only interesting to someone who's spent years researching the topic. He manages to keep it targeted to a broad audience while simultaneously stuffing your brain with ridiculous amounts of information.
God knows there was plenty of blame to go around for the AIDS epidemic, and he doesn't hesitate to dish it out. In fact, I know he's been criticized for blaming the victims. I don't think that's fair. Sure, he blamed the gay community (particularly in New York) for being stupid with denial, but he was no Larry Kramer. He didn't claim any moral high ground; the tone is more 'we were stupid.' And for every time he accuses politicians of being evil, or doctors of being useless, or the gay community of being dumb, he points out people from every one of those categories who were awesome and brave and amazing. I found it to be pretty even-handed. Surprisingly so.
Like all of his books, the overall message of this seems to be, "We can improve." So despite the enormous soulcrush, it's very inspiring. Which is probably the most amazing thing about it.
Conduct Unbecoming
Randy Shilts actually died of AIDS before this book was completely finished, and of course the book suffers for it. Which is tragic, because the research was as amazing as ever. On top of that, it's heartbreaking to see the signs of him getting more sick and addled over the course of the book.
For all that, though, this is well worth reading. It's about gays in the military. One of the few advantages to the fact that this wasn't as thoroughly edited as his previous books is that you can tell when something he's just discovered has completely horrified him. There's a hilarious couple of chapters during which he apparently figured out that, in many ways, it still sucks to be a woman--particularly in the military. You can all but hear him shouting, "What? What!? What about women's lib!? I thought this was fixed already!!!" :D It makes me giggle.
There are a lot of terrible stories, of course ("freedom of speech," "freedom to pursue happiness," what are those things?), but there are just as many awesome stories. Like the life story of Perry Watkins, who ticked the "homosexual" ticky box on his entrance forms when he was...I believe drafted...into the Army, and they took him anyway. And then he spent the rest of his career saying, "Haha in your FACE" to everyone who tried to kick him out because he was gay. And there were many such occasions. Oh, the military.
AND THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT. Wow, surprisingly epic. Maybe more book recs next week, if I have any organizational skills at all. (?) And possibly fic before that. *is wild with the optimism*
In the meantime, though, a friend said that I should post book recs, seeing as my brain is full of books and this is essentially doing no one any good. So, okay. Maybe this can be a thing. If only to amuse myself, because talking about books is a hobby. :D
Today, Randy Shilts fangirling!
Which is a strange choice for a first rec post, because I don't read nonfiction all that often, and when I do, it's almost never political. But then, that's a ringing endorsement in itself. Randy Shilts made even me interested in modern politics and social injustice.
The man can tell a story. The fact that the stories are true only makes them more interesting.
"I think of him as a classic journalist. Somebody who took the almost romantic notion of being a journalist, totally believed it, and lived it out."
--Michael Denneny on Randy Shilts
The amazing thing about Randy Shilts is that he deeply investigated things that were epically horrible, yet still somehow had the ability to remain optimistic. We're talking about someone who watched--was extremely involved in--the AIDS epidemic, and still had it in him to say, in essence, "We can recover from this; we can learn from this; humans can be better than this."
Informed optimism is...well. It impresses the hell out of me; I'm not an optimistic soul. And certainly ignorant optimism is nothing to be proud of, but to be so informed and still believe in the possibility of improvement...wow.
He did get steadily more jaded and disappointed over the course of the three books, but he never lost that sense of hope completely. Yes. I just want to be him. Apart from the bit where he died tragically young.
The Mayor of Castro Street
His first and most optimistic book. This is the biography of Harvey Milk, the man who made the Castro. (Is there anything more awesome than someone you love writing a biography about someone else you love? I think not.)
Harvey Milk was a fascinating (and strangely adorable) guy, and more, he was the right guy in the right place at the right time. Randy Shilts really manages to capture all of that; the wacky fantasticness that was San Francisco in the '70s, and the way Harvey was absolutely suited to be the person who came in and made it even crazier. This is almost as much a biography of San Francisco as it is of Harvey Milk. (A city can so have a biography. Have you met San Francisco? It's got a personality. In fact, it's clearly up to something.)
Harvey Milk gets touted as a gay rights campaigner, which, of course, he was. But he was a campaigner for just about every other minority, too, and I think that gets overlooked more than it should. Hell, there should be more minorities banding together against the Man. Why aren't there?
This is also a "one man can change the world" sort of book. And it's sad, because he did change the world, but then he died, and the world, in many ways, changed back. But he's an example. It was done before; it can be done again. And there has been progress. Slow, but progress. You find yourself clinging to Randy Shilts's optimism.
On a related note, I once had the following conversation with a middle-aged man I met in the bookstore who was buying the new Armistead Maupin book:
Guy: I hear they're making that movie about Harvey Milk's life.
ket: Yeah. I was excited when I thought Bryan Singer was going to do it, but now I don't know.
Guy: I'm worried too.
ket: They're not really going to use Sean Penn, are they? That would be awful.
Guy: Oh, God, that would be awful. I used to work in Harvey's camera store, you know? I don't want to see his life all...ruined by Hollywood.
ket: ...YOU WORKED FOR HARVEY?
Guy: Hmm? Yeah. Had kind of a part-time thing worked out. We used to get into these huge debates.... Well. Of course I was a militant young lesbian then.
ket: *in awe of this whole conversation*
Guy: But I was looking at this picture of me and Harvey standing on Castro in...I guess it was the mid-70s? And I think it was a nicer place when we were more oppressed. Everyone was so friendly--you could just strike up conversations with anyone on the street. Then you started getting that whole clone effect. I don't know. Anyway, have a good day!
ket: ...it's been so good talking to you.
*dazzled*
And then as it developed, Sean Penn did a shockingly awesome job. So there you go. We worried over nothing.
And The Band Played On
Justly his most famous book. This is the story of the AIDS epidemic.
The amount of research--and the depth of research--is dazzling. And unlike any other book I've read that was this well-researched, he never fell into the trap of getting hung up on minor details that are really only interesting to someone who's spent years researching the topic. He manages to keep it targeted to a broad audience while simultaneously stuffing your brain with ridiculous amounts of information.
God knows there was plenty of blame to go around for the AIDS epidemic, and he doesn't hesitate to dish it out. In fact, I know he's been criticized for blaming the victims. I don't think that's fair. Sure, he blamed the gay community (particularly in New York) for being stupid with denial, but he was no Larry Kramer. He didn't claim any moral high ground; the tone is more 'we were stupid.' And for every time he accuses politicians of being evil, or doctors of being useless, or the gay community of being dumb, he points out people from every one of those categories who were awesome and brave and amazing. I found it to be pretty even-handed. Surprisingly so.
Like all of his books, the overall message of this seems to be, "We can improve." So despite the enormous soulcrush, it's very inspiring. Which is probably the most amazing thing about it.
Conduct Unbecoming
Randy Shilts actually died of AIDS before this book was completely finished, and of course the book suffers for it. Which is tragic, because the research was as amazing as ever. On top of that, it's heartbreaking to see the signs of him getting more sick and addled over the course of the book.
For all that, though, this is well worth reading. It's about gays in the military. One of the few advantages to the fact that this wasn't as thoroughly edited as his previous books is that you can tell when something he's just discovered has completely horrified him. There's a hilarious couple of chapters during which he apparently figured out that, in many ways, it still sucks to be a woman--particularly in the military. You can all but hear him shouting, "What? What!? What about women's lib!? I thought this was fixed already!!!" :D It makes me giggle.
There are a lot of terrible stories, of course ("freedom of speech," "freedom to pursue happiness," what are those things?), but there are just as many awesome stories. Like the life story of Perry Watkins, who ticked the "homosexual" ticky box on his entrance forms when he was...I believe drafted...into the Army, and they took him anyway. And then he spent the rest of his career saying, "Haha in your FACE" to everyone who tried to kick him out because he was gay. And there were many such occasions. Oh, the military.
AND THAT IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT. Wow, surprisingly epic. Maybe more book recs next week, if I have any organizational skills at all. (?) And possibly fic before that. *is wild with the optimism*