Randy Shilts was the author of the best-seller And The Band Played On, and an award-winning investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. He died in 1994.
'A no-holds-barred character study and a history of the local gay movement...an investigative piece on the mechanics of big-city government in all its expedient, backbiting splendour' - Washington Post 'A remarkable work... biography, social history and political machination. What makes it exceptional is an objective posture' - Los Angeles Times