Hmm not quite what I was looking for. That's not to diminish Cleve Jones important contributions at all..just didn't do it for me as a whole. Looking forward to reading some different works about this era - recommendations welcome.

This is a book I’m reading for my real-world book club, even though I probably won’t be able to attend the meeting when it is discussed. I had seen the miniseries on tv and enjoyed it. I hadn’t been planning to read the book, but I’m glad that I did. It’s excellent.

I’m in the same generation as the author, just a year/school year older than him, and I was in San Francisco, and so much was familiar and brought up memories, and not just within San Francisco, but the country/the world: the war, the politics, the music, the books, the culture/counterculture, the restaurants, the streets & neighborhoods, current events & news & crimes of the era, the public figures, the people, and almost all were familiar and some I hadn’t thought about for a long time. Not this particular sub-culture though I knew a fair amount about it at the time. I couldn’t help but think about what was going on in my life month to month, year to year, as he told his story and told what was going on in the greater world.

I wish he hadn’t changed any names because I am wondering about one man I knew back then and wonder whether he was mentioned in the book but with a pseudonym. A couple more guys too.

Cleve Jones is so personable, and delivers such great storytelling. I found it hard to put this book down, except at times when painful happenings were being covered, and even then.

The author has had an interesting, eventful life.

Even though the book goes in chronological order, there is quite a bit of repetition, but it wasn’t too distracting or annoying.

At the end does touch on our current situation. As I got toward the end I felt more depressed because of what we’re going through right now, but this account does a good job of having the reader see the big picture and seeing the process needed to make positive changes. It’s hard not to get discouraged though fighting the same old battles over and over and over again. This goes for so many issues!

I already knew so much of what I read, though some of the details toward the end of events, during the 21st century, I didn’t know it all, particularly the infighting/disagreements within different groups in the movement, and they remind me more than a bit of the vegan/animal rights/environmental movements, and I’m hoping maybe we can continue to learn from one another.

My emotions were all over the place as I relived the social and personal aspects of my life over these decades. I found it both fun and painful.

I think the pacing and structure were good. The author explains at the end a change he made in how much of what was covered and I do think the choice was good, even though much of the worst of the AIDS epidemic felt skimmed over to me.

A lot of name dropping but he is entitled! And there are always valid reasons for when he does it!

Highly recommended for those who lived it or witnessed it, who lived during these decades, particularly if readers were young adults in the 70s, and also those who are curious about the period and those who want to understand how history makes our present. Through all times and causes/issues. Recommended also for people who enjoy good coming of age and aging memoirs.

Beautifully written. I really like how the content of the book keeps changing and growing as Cleve Jones himself changes and grows in the movement. Obviously an interesting look at a person's life and at queer history and queer liberation in America. I really want to find more books like this.

This book moved me. I laughed, I cried, I was angry and sad, but most off all, it left me feeling proud to part of a community capable of so much. I remember where I was when I heard marriage equality happened in the US, and reading about it today made me as emotional as I felt in 2015. I am so grateful for the activists who came before me; because of Harvey Milk, Cleve Jones and so many others, we have an incredible history, and going forward, an even brighter future.

I loved it and leaned so much about this time period. Really loved Cleve's honesty and heart that went into telling the story.

Maybe 3.5. This was definitely super interesting! You can’t really tell someone how to write their memoir but he spent so much time on the 70s and then things sped up really fast and he was flying through a lot of the years I was most interested in hearing about. Also, though he made some valid critiques of ACT UP I think part of his dislike of them was annoying respectability politics. Also omfg so much name dropping. It’s true he met and worked with a lot of cool well known people! Definitely interested in reading about POC and trans activism around HIV and queer liberation in this era soon.

I'm glad I listened to the afterward, where Cleve Jones explains how he wanted to focus on his life before the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To me, this part of his book was magical. It felt like a completely different person wrote the rest, and it helps to know that his intent was to show the beauty of queer life before the plague. I almost think this book could have been just the Before. The latter parts read as a list of people and interactions. Both the style and content was depressing. Sure, ACT/UP was probably cliquey and critiques are warranted, but from that point on in the book, it's as if Cleve Jones becomes a compromised politician, devoid of passion, rage, and life. I'm not sure I would have been any different if I survived the epidemic, but it's still sad. There are moments of insight, like his unease with fighting for inclusion in a military that draftees once faked being gay to avoid. I loved hearing his reading and his voice throughout and recommend the audiobook.

Bonus points for the telling of how Dianne Feinstein came to prominence, through the murders of Harvey Milk and George Moscone. She was a terrible moderate then, and a terrible moderate now.

A fascinating account of a tumultuous period in the history of gay rights, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cleve Jones came of age in the 1970’s when most gays were still in the closet. He experienced and was a part of tremendous changes in our society’s acceptance of homosexuality, including federal funding of AIDs research, gay marriage, and the awareness of discrimination of gays in the workplace. Cleve Jones was a part of Harvey Milk’s staff and witnessed his rise and tragic murder. Bravo to Cleve Jones for writing this memoir.