Reviews

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic by Jack Lowery

bethany6788's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

The book is about Gran Fury, an art collective born from ACT UP during the AIDS crisis, who used powerful art and direct action to challenge corporate greed and societal indifference. Their legacy continues to inspire today, showing the impact of solidarity and public art in fighting against injustice and supporting vulnerable communities.

Three of the most famous works by Gran Fury are Silence = Death, Read My Lips, and Kissing Doesn’t Kill. I never knew that one specific group was responsible for all three of these iconic images from the AIDS epidemic and movement. If you don’t know them by name, you likely will know them by imagine if you look them up online.

This is an incredible companion to all of the non-fiction books I’ve read so far on the AIDS epidemic. About how art can help create a movement and inspire people politically. How ACT UP was a catalyst for so many things we know as normal today. How people died waiting for a cure. For help. From government neglect. I really loved how this book dove into so many different aspects of the AIDS crisis and it went a step further by ending in the “now” and discussing vaccines recently released, protests in the last 10 years, and PTSD suffered by survivors of the AIDS epidemic.

I would fully recommend this one, especially on audio. It was well-written and narrated, easy to understand, and accessible for the average consumer. Just how ACT UP wanted it.

Incredible.

lauren_shoe's review against another edition

5.0

I can’t speak highly enough of this book as engaging history that underscores the role of art in activism. While it covers the specific example of Gran Fury in the AIDS crisis, it makes a larger argument/statement. I knew of ACT UP, but learned a lot more details about their activism through this. For me, the most enjoyable parts were the descriptions of the conversations (often debates) that produced Gran Fury’s most memorable designs.

a_violentfemme's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

Very interesting and well researched study (despite lack of tradtional bibliography) into the work of Gran Fury and ACT UP.
Lowery's research relies heavily on oral histories which I am finding fascinating at the moment. 
He really doesn't shy away from the challenges and fallings out that occured between both groups and I found this sense of reality really refreshing and showed the challenges of activism in such a real way.
However, I did find this book a bit of a slog to get through at times and it took me a long time to finish!

coatpocketcreature's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

fruityfairy1312's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

baschoon's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was an excellent glimpse into a pivotal moment in Queer history, and indeed in 20th century social movements; its focus on the marketing, messaging, and artistic arm of ActUP and AIDS activism gives a lot of insight to the former movement while also hinting on paths forward for activists today.

sarahrose_a's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

collins1129's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

greta_cross's review against another edition

5.0

It’s going to be hard for any book I read in 2023 to top this one.

Jack Lowery does such a great job of chronicling the timeline of two key activist groups during the height of the AIDS crisis, ACT UP and Grand Fury. This book is full of so much research and really gives you the full scope of these two organizations and how they worked together. Lowery not only provides the history of these organizations. He outlines the effectiveness of Grand Fury’s work, both at the time of creation and longterm.

This is one of those books that I think every single person should read. Following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so much of the activism and backlash discussed in this book feels so near.

kevinmccarrick's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0