
Let the Record Show
A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993
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Narrated by:
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Rosalyn Coleman Williams
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Sarah Schulman
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By:
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Sarah Schulman
2021 NPR Best Book of the Year
This program includes an introduction read by the author.
One of O, the Oprah Magazine's 32 LGBTQ Books That Will Change the Literary Landscape in 2021, one of Vogue's 9 LGBTQ+ Books We're Looking Forward to This Spring, one of and Cosmopolitan's LGBTQ+ Books to Add to Your Reading List in 2021, one of The Observer's Spring Books You Don't Want to Miss, and one of Bloomberg's 14 Books to Put on Your Reading List This Spring
"A masterpiece of historical research and intellectual analysis that creates many windows into both a vanished world and the one that emerged from it, the one we live in now." (Alexander Chee)
Twenty years in the making, Sarah Schulman's Let the Record Show is the most comprehensive political history ever assembled of ACT UP and American AIDS activism.
In just six years, ACT UP, New York, a broad and unlikely coalition of activists from all races, genders, sexualities, and backgrounds, changed the world. Armed with rancor, desperation, intelligence, and creativity, it took on the AIDS crisis with an indefatigable, ingenious, and multifaceted attack on the corporations, institutions, governments, and individuals who stood in the way of AIDS treatment for all. They stormed the FDA and NIH in Washington, DC, and started needle exchange programs in New York; they took over Grand Central Terminal and fought to change the legal definition of AIDS to include women; they transformed the American insurance industry, weaponized art and advertising to push their agenda, and battled - and beat - The New York Times, the Catholic Church, and the pharmaceutical industry. Their activism, in its complex and intersectional power, transformed the lives of people with AIDS and the bigoted society that had abandoned them.
Based on more than 200 interviews with ACT UP members and rich with lessons for today’s activists, Let the Record Show is a revelatory exploration - and long-overdue reassessment - of the coalition’s inner workings, conflicts, achievements, and ultimate fracture. Schulman, one of the most revered queer writers and thinkers of her generation, explores the how and the why, examining, with her characteristic rigor and bite, how a group of desperate outcasts changed America forever, and in the process created a livable future for generations of people across the world.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2021 Sarah Schulman (P)2021 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year, 2021
PEN Literary Award - Finalist, 2022
NPR Best Book of the Year, 2021
New York Magazine Best Books of the Year, 2021
Lambda Literary Award - Winner, 2022
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An epic and important oral history
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Must read history
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Required reading for so many of us trying to change the world
Legendary activists
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Thank you, Sarah Schulman and anyone who was affiliated with ACT UP.
Thank you to all involved and RIP to all who have passed
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While I still consider this a tour du force of learning and discovery, the narration is very distracting and significantly takes away from the overall experience. As explained in another review it is the stop-start breaking up one cohesive sentence into two that is most annoying. I read that before buying the book and thought “I’m sure it’s not that bad”, but it really is. Buy the written version or none at all.
Narration makes it difficult to enjoy
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The narrator has a beautiful voice. I’ve read some snarky comments about occasional mispronunciations. Yes. There are occasional mispronunciations. I just spent 27 1/2 hours with her and I’m hoping I get to spend more time with her reading books. Her voice is gorgeous
Riveting, essential. Colossal contributions to society
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Oh damn. I'm following along in the book to find examples, and I just saw her skip three words on a single page.
This is just really depressing. "Go meet with them" became "go meet them." Over the course of 4 or 5 pages, she skipped between one and four words per page. "sexually transmitted AIDS could manifest as Kaposi sarcoma, whereas AIDS transmitted by needles did not" -- she left out the second "AIDS."
She also mispronounces words -- "preface" became "pree face", "plenary" is "plen AIR ee".
Not good.
Marred by poor narration
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The main letdown is the narrator and her mangling of several names. She couldn't even mispronounce David Wojnarowicz's last name the same way twice. How to pronounce the names of these figures from the early plague years would have been an simple way to show a deeper level of respect.
Excellent content & perspectives; bad narration
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Incredible.
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Stumbling narration
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