Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-93 – Sarah Schulman

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Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987–1993
by Sarah Schulman | Hardcover

Winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction
Winner of the 2022 Stonewall Book Award
A New York Times Notable Book of 2021

“This is not reverent, definitive history. This is a tactician’s bible.” — The New York Times

Twenty years in the making, Let the Record Show is the definitive account of one of the most urgent and transformative movements in American history. Drawing from more than 200 firsthand interviews, celebrated author and activist Sarah Schulman constructs a panoramic, deeply human portrait of ACT UP New York (1987–1993)—the coalition of activists who, through radical creativity and relentless courage, confronted the AIDS epidemic and the institutions that ignored it.

ACT UP’s members—artists, students, professionals, and outcasts—used protest, media, and direct action to demand treatment, dignity, and truth. They stormed the FDA and NIH, occupied Grand Central Terminal, created needle exchange programs, and forced the nation to face a public health emergency it wanted to deny. In doing so, they reshaped policy, medicine, and the cultural landscape of America itself.

Schulman chronicles the movement’s brilliance and conflicts alike, revealing a raw, intersectional story of activism powered by love, rage, and necessity. Both a history and a manual for change, Let the Record Show captures the strategies, heartbreaks, and triumphs of a generation that refused to be erased—and built a foundation for every justice movement that followed.