Body Counts

A Memoir of Politics, Sex, Aids, and Survival

By: Sean Strub

Narrated by: David Drake

The founder of POZ magazine shares "a captivating...eyewitness account from inside the AIDS epidemic" (Next) and "a moving, multidecade memoir of one gay man's life" (San Francisco Chronicle). As a politics-obsessed Georgetown freshman, Sean Strub arrived in Washington, DC, from Iowa in 1976, with a plum part-time job running a senate elevator in the US Capitol. He also harbored a terrifying secret: his attraction to men. As Strub explored the capital's political and social circles, he discovered a parallel world where powerful men lived double lives shrouded in shame. When the AIDS epidemic hit in the early 1980s, Strub was living in New York and soon found himself attending "more funerals than birthday parties". Scared and angry, he turned to radical activism to combat discrimination and demand research. Strub takes you through his own diagnosis and inside ACT UP, the organization that transformed a stigmatized cause into one of the defining political movements of our time. From the New York of Studio 54 and Andy Warhol's Factory to the intersection of politics and burgeoning LGBT and AIDS movements, Strub's story crackles with history. He recounts his role in shocking AIDS demonstrations at St. Patrick's Cathedral as well as at the home of US Senator Jesse Helms. With an astonishing cast of characters, including Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Keith Haring, Bill Clinton, and Yoko Ono, this is a vivid portrait of a tumultuous era "[with] the suspense and horror of Paul Monette's memoir Borrowed Time and the drama of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart.... What a lot of action - and life - there is in this gripping book." (The Washington Post). Photo: Iowa City Press-Citizen

©2014 Sean Strub (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

laughed cried all the things

this was a moving portrayal of the life well lived. it's a brief glimpse into the past and how far we've come. We all need to know and remember who was before us and how we got here! this is amazing book if you're gay or not AIDS has affected all of us!!! beautiful book

narrator was a bit over dramatic

very powerful and a great follow up to and the band played on. I wish he had read it himself

An Inspiration to Act Up!

With page-turning prose and encounters to make Andy Warhol jealous, this exceptional memoir of the AIDS epidemic and Act Up is the only history you need to understand the fight for respect and action when it felt like the world was going up in flames.

Strub takes you from the closeted world of Beltway politicians, where where outward prudery butts heads with acts of desire, to New York City, a place where he finally felt safe to come out, just as strong leadership was needed to get the rest of the world to take notice and take action against HIV/AIDS.

A superb recording with exceptional narration by David Drake, "Body Counts" is an inspiration.

Among the very best memoirs I’ve read

I am mostly a fiction guy, but I love a well-written account of an interesting life. And Sean Stub has certainly led an interesting - even fascinating - life in a historic time. I was a gay college student in the 80s and could relate to much of Sean’s description of his discovery and acceptance of his identity.

David Drake’s narration grew on me. Early in the book, I felt he was overly dramatic (as another reviewer observed). I felt he was trying to interpret each sentence for me rather than reading it to me. But I got used to his cadence and began to enjoy his delivery, especially during the parts of Sean’s story where he himself played an active role.

Fantastic!

This is easily one of my favorite books ever. It is so funny, poignant, and heartfelt. It offers a personal view of HIV/AIDs, the gay community, activism, politics, friendship, and both romantic and sexual relationships. Sean Strub is a wonderful writer that, on more than one occasion, made me cry and laugh hysterically in equal measure. The narrator is wonderful in pace and enunciation. I was never bored and the stories were never dulll. Its just as entertaining as it is truly educational.