The difference between the books is thus one of purpose–political history versus memoir–but also of worldview. He writes about other activists, but his purpose is to tell the story of his actions in concert with those of others who worked to save the lives of people with HIV or AIDS in the face of stigma and government neglect. Never Silent is a standard memoir with Staley at the center as a gay man with HIV who joined ACT UP, first as an observer and then as a full participant and leader. The purpose is to highlight the democratic nature of the organization as well as the many people who were often out of the limelight but vital to the functioning of the coalition.

Throughout her book, Schulman emphasizes that “regular members’ voices and stories are essential in understanding” the movement. Let the Record Show is a collective story based on oral histories, studded with primary source documents and obituary-like memorials of deceased ACT UP members. If read in concert, the books ask: Whose stories do we tell and who do we let tell those stories? (Courtesy Macmillan) Both focus on the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the largest of the AIDS activist organizations in the 1980s and early 1990s, and both authors were active participants in ACT UP during these years. Sarah Schulman’s Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987–1993 and Peter Staley’s memoir, Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism aren’t in conversation with one another so much as they are different versions of the same story.

Sarah schulman act up book