Boy with the Bullhorn: A Memoir and History of ACT UP New York

by Ron Goldberg

A coming-of-age memoir of life on the front lines of the AIDS crisis with ACT UP New York.

From the moment Ron Goldberg stumbled into his first ACT UP meeting in June 1987, the AIDS activist organization became his life. For the next eight years, he chaired committees, planned protests, led teach-ins, and facilitated their Monday night meetings. He cruised and celebrated at ACT UP parties, attended far too many AIDS memorials, and participated in more than a hundred zaps and demonstrations, becoming the group’s unofficial “Chant Queen,” writing and leading chants for many of their major actions. Boy with the Bullhorn is both a memoir and an immersive history of the original New York chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, from 1987 to 1995, told with great humor, heart, and insight.

Using the author’s own story, “the activist education of a well-intentioned, if somewhat naïve nice gay Jewish theater queen,” Boy with the Bullhorn intertwines Goldberg’s experiences with the larger chronological history of ACT UP, the grassroots AIDS activist organization that confronted politicians, scientists, drug companies, religious leaders, the media, and an often uncaring public to successfully change the course of the AIDS epidemic.

Diligently sourced and researched, Boy with the Bullhorn provides both an intimate look into how activist strategies are developed and deployed and a snapshot of life in New York City during the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic. On the occasions where Goldberg writes outside his personal experience, he relies on his extensive archive of original ACT UP documents, news articles, and other published material, as well as activist videos and oral histories, to help flesh out actions, events, and the background stories of key activists. Writing with great candor, Goldberg examines the group’s triumphs and failures, as well as the pressures and bad behaviors that eventually tore ACT UP apart.

A story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, from engaging in outrageous, media-savvy demonstrations, to navigating the intricacies of drug research and the byzantine bureaucracies of the FDA, NIH, and CDC, Boy with the Bullhorn captures the passion, smarts, and evanescent spirit of ACT UP―the anger, grief, and desperation, but also the joy, camaraderie, and sexy, campy playfulness―and the exhilarating adrenaline rush of activism.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, LGBT, Audiobook, Queer

512 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[Helene · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute masterpiece. Part inspirational guide to how and why to use your voice towards activism, part heartfelt coming-of-age memoir, Boy With The Bullhorn is one of the most moving, funniest, most insightful books I've read.

[Abigail Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 people died in the span of a single paragraph. Ron Goldberg is a national treasure.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 with a GR bump. Probably closer to a 4, but the audio was sometimes very clunky. I love the personal as political and the political as personal. I learned a ton of stuff I didn't know and I appreciated having the parallels to the covid pandemic to the AIDS pandemic stated explicitly in the afterword. While listening, you definitely can feel it. I'm glad books like this exist.

[AMAO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boy with the Bullhorn: A Memoir and History of ACT UP New York
by Ron Goldberg @actuporalhistoryproject
Published September 6th 2022
#BoywiththeBullhorn #NetGalley #NYC #ActUpNYC #AIDS #HIV #SilenceEqualsDeath
#Nonfiction #History #Science #LGBT #Queer #Medicine #Politics #Medical #Health

<3 This was over two decades in the making! OMG, I had so many emotions listening to the author rehash this time in World History. It was simply #heartwrenching but he nicely interwoven all that trauma with some real hilarious LOL moments, theatrical pizazz and his TMI sexapades! This was over 18 hours of audio--I attended a lot of funerals in that time. SMH. Imagine if the COVID-19 Pandemic took this long to bring it under some control! The targeting of populations for both these pandemics wasted so much time and energy! It was just shameful how society (Then & Now) chose to be part of the problem rather the solution. Goldberg paid homage to all those who lost their battle--their ages devasted me and their suffering saddened me. SMH... This history took some time to be told but IT NEEDED TO BE TOLD! May Their Memories Be For A Blessing #MustListen <3

From the moment Ron Goldberg stumbled into his first ACT UP meeting in June 1987, the AIDS activist organization became his life. For the next eight years, he chaired committees, planned protests, led teach-ins, and facilitated their Monday night meetings. He cruised and celebrated at ACT UP parties, attended far too many AIDS memorials, and participated in over a hundred zaps and demonstrations, becoming the group's unofficial "Chant Queen," writing and leading chants for many of their major actions. Boy with the Bullhorn is both a memoir and an immersive history of the original New York chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, from 1987 to 1995, told with great humor, heart, and insight.

Diligently sourced and researched, Boy with the Bullhorn provides both an intimate look into how activist strategies are developed and deployed, as well as a snapshot of life in New York City during the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic. He relies on his extensive archive of original ACT UP documents, news articles, and other published material, as well as activist videos and oral histories, to help flesh out actions, events, and the background stories of key activists. Writing with great candor, Goldberg examines the group's triumphs and failures, as well as the pressures and bad behaviors that eventually tore ACT UP apart.

[Rachel Pendlebury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.
I have always been interested in the activism that took place during the AIDS crisis of ACTUP and other groups and I was very curious about 'Boy with the Bullhorn.' This audiobook is a lot of facts to listen too and I would have trouble recommending it to anyone unless I knew the person was very interested in activism and particularly of activism of this period. Ron Goldberg is thorough almost to a fault in telling the story of his time with ACTUP and not just recounting the groups well covered, successful protests. He will tell you about the actions that were taken that received no coverage and were not successful. He recounts actions that were taken that he didn't agree with and will recount why and every so often he will even update you on how activism affected his work and personal life.
To me this man has done a public service not just with his activist of the past but in making a record of the events and decisions for history.

[Finnoula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredible history of act up and I need to mention the “may their memory be for a blessing” bc that is so beautiful and every time I heard that it was so heartbreaking bc it is a lovely tribute to the dead. Thank you for this gift Ron. Your incredible and you make my dreams of being a queer historian more real!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part memoir and part historical timeline, Ron Goldberg’s “Boy With the Bullhorn'' tells the years-long story of his involvement with ACT UP New York from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. Similar to Sarah Shulman’s epic “Let the Record Show,” Goldberg uses hundreds of resources to tell of the expansive life and decline of the AIDS activist group; the New York branch was known as the ‘mothership,’ and the movement grew to more than 150 branches throughout the world.

Known as the “chant queen” for protests and marches in New York and other cities, Goldberg employed his musical theater background to create pithy, catchy chants to enliven his comrades during the struggle through protests and marches. He also shares a lot of the inside scoop on how protests were organized, as well as the later struggles and meetings with AIDS government agencies in getting drugs into bodies, speeding up drug approval and access to medications, as well as confronting government neglect.

Along with recounting the growing number of deaths among his friends, he pulls no punches in describing –and critiquing– the inner struggles and arguments within the group while voicing his own opinions on certain actions, like the infamous ‘Stop the Church’ St. Patrick's Cathedral protest. As a participant through four years of the movement, I can subjectively attest to his spot-on descriptions.

Unlike Schulman's work, Goldberg keeps a chronological order with frequent asides about his personal life. He shares his struggles to maintain relationships while enjoying the collective strength, and the often sexy environment of gay men united in a cause that also included some romance as well. Working together with prominent women, whose experiences ranged from veteran feminists to eager young adults, victories and losses are told in detail. Goldberg brings a clear and thoroughly documented account to the historic events of the time with a personal touch.

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

TRADE PAPER AVAILABLE NOW FOR $22.95 in time for Queer History Month!

The Publisher Says: A coming-of-age memoir of life on the front lines of the AIDS crisis with ACT UP New York.

From the moment Ron Goldberg stumbled into his first ACT UP meeting in June 1987, the AIDS activist organization became his life. For the next eight years, he chaired committees, planned protests, led teach-ins, and facilitated their Monday night meetings. He cruised and celebrated at ACT UP parties, attended far too many AIDS memorials, and participated in more than a hundred zaps and demonstrations, becoming the group’s unofficial “Chant Queen,” writing and leading chants for many of their major actions. Boy with the Bullhorn is both a memoir and an immersive history of the original New York chapter of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, from 1987 to 1995, told with great humor, heart, and insight.

Using the author’s own story, “the activist education of a well-intentioned, if somewhat naïve nice gay Jewish theater queen,” Boy with the Bullhorn intertwines Goldberg’s experiences with the larger chronological history of ACT UP, the grassroots AIDS activist organization that confronted politicians, scientists, drug companies, religious leaders, the media, and an often uncaring public to successfully change the course of the AIDS epidemic.

Diligently sourced and researched, Boy with the Bullhorn provides both an intimate look into how activist strategies are developed and deployed and a snapshot of life in New York City during the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic. On the occasions where Goldberg writes outside his personal experience, he relies on his extensive archive of original ACT UP documents, news articles, and other published material, as well as activist videos and oral histories, to help flesh out actions, events, and the background stories of key activists. Writing with great candor, Goldberg examines the group’s triumphs and failures, as well as the pressures and bad behaviors that eventually tore ACT UP apart.

A story of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, from engaging in outrageous, media-savvy demonstrations, to navigating the intricacies of drug research and the byzantine bureaucracies of the FDA, NIH, and CDC, Boy with the Bullhorn captures the passion, smarts, and evanescent spirit of ACT UP—the anger, grief, and desperation, but also the joy, camaraderie, and sexy, campy playfulness—and the exhilarating adrenaline rush of activism.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: After reading Peter Staley's memoir of the ACT UP days during the AIDS crisis, I was too emotionally fatigued to give this memoir of the same time my full attention. I still find it astounding that this book came out thirty-five years after ACT UP appeared.


Early, noisy days
I have to admit that I am still very tender on the subject of this epidemic because of my own losses during that time. There is no sense hiding away from the terrible, always-there pain of losing someone in this awful way, though. It was quite theraputic to recall that the world might not have cared much, but the world could not just ignore the issue after ACT UP got the noisemakers and angry young folk organized.

My personal favorite demonstration–combining my hatred for the catholic church and outrage at the inaction of the medical establishment
Whatever else has happened to me since AIDS took my first friend in 1984, I have carried the clear and unforgiving certainty that my life mattered less than a straight person's life on a policy level. This is brutal, evil, capitalist greed...costs too much to get those drugs, coverage denied...the Government can't afford this medication, coverage denied...and, while that is nothing new to Black or Indigenous people, or even to women, it was a wake-up call to a privileged white boy.

There is one thing that makes me recommend this as a #Booksgiving idea...your young, gay friend who is doing little, or nothing at all, to protest the inaction on climate change...that is reaching crisis stage earlier than we thought...needs a reminder that PrEP did not come about because the elites thought it was a good idea, but because there was a history of loud, angry agitation among the folk who needed it, a bunch of scientists whose careers were able to focus on AIDS because ACT UP acted, and the way to pay it forward is to start shouting along with Greta Thunberg. Or along with David Hogg abour gun control. Whatever! Read this memoir of the joys of acting up and yelling about important matters, about the crises we face. Goldberg has led a happy, fulfilling life being very disobedient. Encourage your young gay friend to do the same.

Being flamboyant in a good cause is no crime.

[Ashley Ethier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about the ACT-UP organization and how they helped implement change in the United States. From learning to become an activist to writing about their experiences, it illustrates the behind the scenes of the work that goes into an active and successful movement

[Jessica Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterpiece. Condenses lots of info into a fun, joyful and touching narrative. Good use of the memoir format - enough distance from his younger self to have perspective; good control of both his own individual story and the larger historical context. Worth a read.

[Frank Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating account of ACT-UP New York's fight against AIDS. Told from the perspective of an ACT-UP member, it forces you to remember the devastating effects of AIDS on American society in the 1980s and early 1990s. An invaluable contribution of LGBTQ history in the late 20th century

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a long awaited history of the ACT UP movement in a time of terrible turmoil from someone who was a the very heart of it all. Done with details and passion and humor.

[Kyle Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping memoir about how a young student was radicalized for the cause.