All the Young Men: A Memoir of the AIDS Crisis
All The Young Men is the gripping true story of Ruth Coker Burks, a young single mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who became a pivotal activist during America's AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. This hardcover memoir chronicles her extraordinary compassion and courage in caring for gay men with AIDS when no one else would.
The Story
In 1986, 26-year-old Ruth Coker Burks visited a friend at the hospital when she noticed a door painted red. Nurses drew straws to avoid entering the quarantined room inside. Ruth walked in and held a dying young man calling for his mother in his final moments. Word spread quickly that Ruth was the only person willing to help these young men, and she became their lifeline.
Without medical training, Ruth created a network of care for AIDS patients abandoned by families and neglected by medical professionals. She found housing and jobs for the men she helped, searched for funeral homes willing to accept their bodies, cooked meals from discarded supermarket food, stored rare medications, and taught sex education at secret bars. Her work defied local pastors and nurses in deeply conservative Arkansas.
Key Figures and Impact
Throughout the years, Ruth cared for Paul and Billy, Angel, Chip, Todd, Luke, and dozens of others. Her advocacy work eventually led her to advise Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis. For 30 years, she has remained an advocate for the LGBTQ community.
About the Authors
Ruth Coker Burks was a young single mom in Hot Springs, Arkansas who cared for people with AIDS when no one else would in the 1980s and 1990s. With no medical background, Ruth single-handedly created a network of care, and saw to the final resting places of many men abandoned by families and neglected by medical professionals. For 30 years, Ruth has been an advocate for the LGBTQ community. She currently resides in Northwest Arkansas.
In the summer of 1997, Kevin Carr O'Leary was 21 and a recent graduate of Wesleyan University when he started work at Poz, a landmark magazine about living with HIV. He has since co-wrote five New York Times non-fiction best sellers, including Strength in Stillness with Transcendental Meditation instructor Bob Roth, This Is Me with actress Chrissy Metz, and Open Book with singer Jessica Simpson. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband and two children.
Publication Details
Published by Grove Press in hardcover format, this deeply moving memoir honors the extraordinary life of Ruth Coker Burks and the beloved men who fought valiantly during a hostile and misinformed time in America.
