{"product_id":"9781595589453","title":"Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS","description":"\u003cbr\u003eIn December 1995, the FDA approved the release of protease inhibitors, the first effective treatment for AIDS. For countless people, the drug offered a reprieve from what had been a death sentence; for others, it was too late. In the United States alone, over 318,000 people had died from AIDS-related complications—among them were the singer Michael Callen and the poet Essex Hemphill.\u003cp\u003eMeticulously researched and evocatively told, \u003ci\u003eTwo Lives, Two Deaths\u003c\/i\u003e is historian Martin Duberman’s poignant memorial to those lost to AIDS and to two of the great unsung heroes of the early years of the epidemic. Callen, a white gay Midwesterner who moved to New York, became a leading figure in the movement to increase awareness of AIDS in the face of willful neglect; Hemphill, an African American gay man, contributed to the black gay and lesbian flowering in Washington, D.C., with poetry of searing intensity and introspection. A profound exploration of the intersection of race, sexuality, class, and identity and the politics of AIDS activism beyond ACT-UP, \u003ci\u003eTwo Lives, Two Deaths\u003c\/i\u003e captures both a generation struggling to cope with the deadly disease and the extraordinary refusal of two men to give in to despair.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Press, The","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47046898090224,"sku":"9781595589453","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781595589453_p0.jpg?v=1763809529","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781595589453","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}