A review by happiestwhenreading
All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

If there is one time period in history that completely breaks my heart, it has to be the way the AIDS crisis of the 1980s was handled. Not only were many queer people shunned from their families and loved ones, but then we had a government that refused to acknowledge what was happening in regards to HIV and AIDS. Queer people were left to die alone, stripped of their dignity and without an ounce of love or compassion from so many in the medical fields.

Thank goodness for people like Ruth Coker Burks…a woman who selflessly inserted herself into a crisis with her whole heart and soul. What was a chance encounter with a gay man on his death bed in a hospital that treated him like a leper, turned into a calling that changed Burks’ life forever. She became a tireless advocate for people with AIDS; she loved them when no one else would, she gave them dignity in their death, and she advocated for the entire community to help them get funds and resources.

This is an incredible memoir – one of the best I’ve ever read. Not only do I admire Burks for her work within the AIDS context, but I was beyond impressed with her resilience, determination, and attitude in the face of so many challenges. If I could have just an ounce of her moxie, I’d be set!

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