{"product_id":"all-the-young-men-ruth-coker-burks-9780802157249","title":"All the Young Men","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAll The Young Men\u003c\/i\u003e, a gripping and triumphant tale of human compassion, is the true story of Ruth Coker Burks, a young single mother in Hot Springs, Arkansas, who finds herself driven to the forefront of the AIDS crisis, and becoming a pivotal activist in America's fight against AIDS.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn 1986, 26-year old Ruth visits a friend at the hospital when she notices that the door to one of the hospital rooms is painted red. She witnesses nurses drawing straws to see who would tend to the patient inside, all of them reluctant to enter the room. Out of impulse, Ruth herself enters the quarantined space and immediately begins to care for the young man who cries for his mother in the last moments of his life. Before she can even process what she's done, word spreads in the community that Ruth is the only person willing to help these young men afflicted by AIDS, and is called upon to nurse them. As she forges deep friendships with the men she helps, she works tirelessly to find them housing and jobs, even searching for funeral homes willing to take their bodies - often in the middle of the night. She cooks meals for tens of people out of discarded food found in the dumpsters behind supermarkets, stores rare medications for her most urgent patients, teaches sex-ed to drag queens after hours at secret bars, and becomes a beacon of hope to an otherwise spurned group of ailing gay men on the fringes of a deeply conservative state.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThroughout the years, Ruth defies local pastors and nurses to help the men she cares for: Paul and Billy, Angel, Chip, Todd and Luke. Emboldened by the weight of their collective pain, she fervently advocates for their safety and visibility, ultimately advising Governor Bill Clinton on the national HIV-AIDS crisis.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis deeply moving and elegiac memoir honors the extraordinary life of Ruth Coker Burks and the beloved men who fought valiantly for their lives with AIDS during a most hostile and misinformed time in America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ruth Coker Burks, Kevin Carr O'Leary\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0802157246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802157249\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Grove Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/01\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2020 pg. 41\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/14\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2020 pg. 93","brand":"Ruth Coker Burks","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44050239389951,"sku":"9780802157249","price":26.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_6ef28e53-c965-4402-bd19-d3df5c739ad0.jpg?v=1685006057","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/all-the-young-men-ruth-coker-burks-9780802157249","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}