Radical Acts

Radical Acts is a breath-taking analysis of activism against the HIV/AIDS epidemic that blends local, street-level confrontations with everyday acts of engagement and friendship. George Severs explores the diversity of activist movements: conflicts, creativity, silences, and solidarity. This perfectly crafted and surprisingly optimistic book also hints at the future of activism. * Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck, University of London, UK * With an engaging writing style, Severs combines insightful theorizing with rich detail. Through the wealth of experiences it narrates, and its careful analysis, Radical Acts does not only look back at a complex historical moment but also makes sense of it for our future. * Jaime García-Iglesias, University of Edinburgh, UK * AIDS activism has taken many forms with variable identities and stages. George Severs’ book ranges widely and with insight over activist groups from UK ACTUP to Positively Women, from religious groups such as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to the Jewish AIDS Trust. Using oral histories, it draws our attention to quieter activism , to the growth of the ‘AIDS sector’ and to the continuing international significance of activist links and connections. A valuable addition to the history of HIV/AIDS activism. * Virginia Berridge, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK * George Severs’ book is deeply scholarly and wonderfully readable at the same time. It charts the progress of HIV activism here in the UK, its battle with stigma and exclusion, its triumphs and its challenges, its links with queer radicalism, and the continuing need we all have for both. This is an illuminating and essential story. * Lord Chris Smith, Master of Pembroke College, the University of Cambridge, UK * George Severs sensitively and boldly combines an unusual range of evidence to extend our historiographical understanding of what radical, community and activist has meant in the context of HIV/AIDS in England. He includes more familiar (but contested) accounts of direct action on the streets alongside everyday activism in the workplace, universities and the Church, to more broadly examine the reaches of activism and key actors involved. * Wendy Rickard, Newcastle University, UK * Overall, Radical Acts offers an engaging history of several different facets of an ‘HIV/AIDS activist constellation’. The book will be particularly useful to historians of sexuality, gender and medicine, but also has much to offer to social and political historians who are interested in rethinking what we mean when we talk about activism. * Urban History *