What Is the AIDS Crisis?

Which of these facts are true?
In 1980, people began dying of a mysterious new illness that doctors did not understand
The AIDS Memorial Quilt is the largest community art project in the world
In 2019, there were thirty-eight million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide

In this addition to the New York Times bestselling series, learn how incredible activists made the public aware of AIDS and spurred medical breakthroughs.

In the early 1980s, the first cases of  a devastating and fatal new disease appeared, a disease that at first struck only gay men and was later identified as HIV/AIDS. It was the beginning of what became a worldwide health crisis that the US government ignored for years and that unfairly heightened prejudice against the LGBTQ+ community. To this day, the AIDS Crisis continues to disproportionately affect both the LGBTQ+ community and people of color. Nico Medina has written an accurate and affecting history of a terrible time, spotlighting the heroic efforts of AIDS activists who fought for medical research and new medicines, for proper health care for patients, and for compassionate recognition of people with AIDS.