Moving Listens About the AIDS Epidemic

Just Kids is Patti Smith's staggering story of a man who changed her life and forever affected her art. In this memoir, which she powerfully narrates, the punk rock icon reflects on her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith looks back at their lives in New York City in the 1960s and '70s, tracing how they moved from lovers to each other's muses to dear friends. Mapplethorpe remained one of Smith's closest friends until he died in 1989 at the age of 42 due to complications from HIV/AIDS.

Sean Strub's memoir captures an uncertain time in LGBTQIA+ history, when the AIDS epidemic swept the nation and the nation wanted to sweep it under the rug. The author, now an AIDS activist and the founder of POZ magazine, tells of his young adulthood in Washington, DC, and New York City, revealing how his work in politics brought him close to some of the most powerful people in the country—many of whom, like himself, were living a double life as a gay man. But when his friends began dying from AIDS, Strub knew he couldn't remain silent. David Drake narrates Body Counts, a listen that will leave you thinking about how times have changed...and haven't.

A self-described "gay fantasia," Angels in America confronts the shattering AIDS crisis in the 1980s. Bringing a necessary, powerful work to a wider audience of listeners, this audio production of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize–winning play won the Audie Award for Best Audio Drama. This full-cast recording features the actors behind the Tony Award-winning 2018 Broadway revival, including Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough, Beth Malone, James McArdle, Lee Pace, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. In this audio edition, Bobby Cannavale and Edie Falco also provide narration.

Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat is a love letter to art, love, food, and being young in Los Angeles. Set in the 1980s, this short but impactful audiobook covers serious issues, including blended families, homosexuality, and AIDS, from the perspective of a yearning, daring heroine brought to life by Alyssa Bresnahan's spirited narration. A story of magic and glamour juxtaposed against the gritty realities of loss and heartbreak, this modern fairy tale will captivate young adults and listeners who remember what it was like to be young in the '80s.

Push tells the brutal yet hope-filled story of a young Black girl living in Harlem whose life has been punctuated by abuse and hardship. At home, Precious Jones is tortured by her mother; at school, she is tormented by bullies. At 16, she finds herself pregnant for the second time with her father's child, and things take a turn for the worse when she tests positive for HIV. But Precious finds an outlet for her feelings, and gradually comes to believe in her own worth, when a supportive teacher encourages her to write her thoughts down in a diary. The audiobook is read by the author, Sapphire.

Close to the Knives is an unforgettable memoir told through a series of searing, savagely funny, and heartfelt essays. David Wojnarowicz died from AIDS at the age of 37—but before his untimely death, the author lived quite an eventful life. After surviving a tough adolescence and living in squalor on the streets of New York City, he found fame—and provoked controversy—as an artist and activist who fought against the homophobic establishment and advocated for those who struggled to fit within society's constraining boundaries.

In Patient Zero, researcher Richard A. McKay looks back at the life of Gaëtan Dugas, a gay man who became infamous after his death. Diagnosed with skin cancer in 1980, Dugas was posthumously—and erroneously—identified as patient zero of the North American AIDS outbreak. How did this become his narrative? And how did his story help to shape the story of AIDS in America? This listen breaks down the myths surrounding Dugas and his diagnosis to get to the reality of how early research into the emerging health crisis—and fears surrounding it—fueled the need for someone to blame.

In The Impatient Dr. Lange, author and narrator Seema Yasmin tells the inspiring true story of one remarkable doctor's fight against a global pandemic. Through his work with HIV/AIDS patients, Dr. Lange went far beyond his roles as a physician and a scientist. He became an AIDS activist and a medical diplomat, fighting against injustices and advocating for better health care for all patients, regardless of their economic situation or their lifestyle.

Shane Stanford, a devoted husband, father, and pastor, shares how he handles the daily challenges of living with HIV in his inspirational memoir, A Positive Life. Through his story, Stanford offers up nine lessons about living a life of faith and joy in the face of adversity. Whether you're dealing with a chronic illness, a devastating loss, or some other hardship, Stanford's takeaway is the same: You can find true and abiding contentment.

In Living and Loving in the Age of AIDS, Derek Frost shares his personal struggle with caring for a loved one who fought against this terrible disease for six long years. Derek's husband, the dynamic entrepreneur J, was diagnosed as HIV positive in the 1980s, back when that diagnosis was a death sentence. And although AIDS would eventually take J's life, he and Derek did everything they could with the time they had left together. They turned to spiritual reflection and yoga, and they started a charity, Aids Ark, which went on to help save more than 1,000 HIV positive lives.

The Storm is Christopher Zyda's memoir about coming out in 1984 and building a life in Los Angeles with his boyfriend, Stephen, only to have his world pulled apart by the AIDS epidemic. First, their friends begin to fall sick and die, and then Stephen begins to show symptoms. Certain that he too will eventually be struck by the disease, Christopher makes the difficult decision to abandon his writing career and focus instead on making enough money to pay for Stephen's healthcare. Paul Boehmer narrates this story of love and perseverance in the midst of a terrifying health crisis.

Alysia Abbott's Fairyland is a beautiful memoir—and an Audible exclusive—that you won’t soon forget. In this audiobook, Abbott recalls what it was like to grow up motherless in San Francisco in the late '70s and '80s with an openly gay father. A writer and activist, Steve Abbott introduces his young daughter to a vibrant world of art, poetry, and adventure. But as Alysia gets older, her father's friends—whom she has also befriended—start dying from AIDS, and then her father too becomes ill. Performed by the author, Fairyland is a vivid portrait of San Francisco during a revolutionary time and a touching testament of a daughter's love for a father who dared to be different.

A Stonewall Book Award-winning novel, Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers is a story of friendship, tragedy, and redemption split between 1985 and 2015. In 1985, Yale Tishman is the development director for an art gallery in Chicago. But just as his career starts to thrive, the AIDS epidemic creeps into the lives of people closest to him. One by one, his friends begin to die, until the only person he has left is his late friend Nico's grieving little sister, Fiona. In 2015, the grownup Fiona goes to Paris to track down her daughter, who has disappeared into a cult. In the midst of this personal crisis, Fiona finally comes to terms with the way AIDS has affected her life and relationships. Though separated by 30 years, the stories intersect in the quest to survive disaster and find goodness.

A celebrated author of sci-fi and fantasy novels with elements of horror, Tananarive Due is known for her inventive storylines that cover real-world topics from a speculative and often chilling perspective. In Bloody Colony, she takes listeners inside a hidden clan in Africa that has survived for more than 1,000 years and is now fighting the AIDS/HIV epidemic. To maintain their impressive longevity, the clan members put their hope in a new street drug that has attained almost mythical status in America. Glow is said to cure any illness. But at what price?

A story about love, loss, and the power of compassion, Tell the Wolves I'm Home is set in 1987 during the AIDS crisis. Shy and largely overlooked, 14-year-old June Elbus is devastated by the death of her beloved uncle Finn—her godfather, confidant, and best friend—to a disease her mother refuses to talk about. At his funeral, June is drawn to a man she has never met. As she soon discovers, this mysterious stranger loved Finn and misses him too: they were boyfriends. From there, the two develop an unlikely friendship. Carol Rifka Brunt's debut novel is sure to touch your heart.

And the Band Played On is an audiobook by legendary journalist Randy Shilts—available exclusively from Audible—that takes a deep dive into the AIDS epidemic, from its origins to its surprisingly rapid spread throughout the United States. Voiced by actor Victor Bevine, this account of the AIDS crisis works to honor the memory of its victims while uncovering the troubling story of a government that turned its back on people who were dying.

One of 2022's most anticipated nonfiction listens is this upcoming Audible Original podcast from the co-creators of Slow Burn. Fiasco is a narrative podcast that transports listeners into the day-to-day reality of America’s most pivotal historical events. Using original interviews with dozens of key players, host Leon Neyfakh brings to life the forgotten twists and turns of the past while shedding light on the present day. The new season of Fiasco goes deep on the AIDS epidemic in America, with a special focus on the early years of the crisis, when a diagnosis was tantamount to a death sentence. The eight-part series looks at the mystery and missteps around identifying and treating a new, contagious disease, and what it took to get the public—and the government—to care.