1:15 PM – Saturday – Book Club

What: When the Band Played On
By: Micheal G. Lee
Where: Quatrefoil Library
When: June 21 at 1:15 PM

Contact Rick for details or to subscribe to book club notices by email here.

Book Review:

He was the first openly gay reporter assigned

to a gay beat at a mainstream paper and one

of the nation’s most influential chroniclers of

gay history, politics, and culture. Shilts wrote

three seminal works on the community: The

Mayor of Castro Street, on the life,

assassination, and legacy of Harvey Milk; And

the Band Played On, detailing the failure of

politics as usual during the early AIDS

epidemic; and Conduct Unbecoming, a history

of the US military’s mistreatment of LGBTQ

servicemembers.

Yet the intimate life story of Randy Shilts has

been left unwritten. When the Band Played On

tells that story, recognizing his legacy as a

trailblazing figure in gay activism, journalism,

and public policy.

The resulting narrative tells the tale of a

singularly gifted voice, a talented yet insecure

young man, whose coming of age became

intricately linked to the history of modern gay

liberation.

Author Micheal G. Lee will join us for the

meeting.