| Stitching a Revolution: The Making of an Activist | 
 enlarge | Authors: Cleve Jones, Jeff Dawson
Publisher: HarperOne
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (6 reviews)
Sales Rank: 137620
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0062516426
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.19697920092
EAN: 9780062516428
ASIN: 0062516426
Publication Date: May 2001
Release Date: May 22, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
There can be few American stories more inspiring than that of the tremendous 43,000-panel AIDS quilt, a national memorial as powerfully symbolic as the Vietnam War Memorial--but made from a material as fragile and ephemeral as human life. The quilt is predicated on a simple concept: putting names to those who have died of AIDS humanizes the statistics and forces those who visit the quilt to look beyond the stigmatized categories of gayness and contagious disease that cling to the popular image of AIDS. Cleve Jones stitched the first panel in his backyard in February 1987 as a memorial to his best friend, Marvin. He has been speaking in public about the quilt for many years now, and his narrative in Stitching a Revolution is smooth and engaging. Perhaps his best quality as a storyteller is his generous recognition of others, shown in his memory of Rosa Parks in her Sunday hat: "When she handed me the quilts she'd made for her neighbors," Jones recalls, "she wanted to relish only their lives, not the divisions--just memorialize her friends and what they'd meant to her. You're doing a wonderful thing, young man, she'd said. There were no tears in her eyes, just a message for me to continue. Did my fatigue show? Did she see that the death threats and potshots had taken their toll? Dismiss them, she seemed to say, and grow old. A challenge. I brighten and feel combative." --Regina Marler
Product Description
From the frontlines of one of the greatest human struggles of our time comes this powerful and moving tale. Both an important cultural history of the AIDS crisis and an intimate personal memoir, Stitching a Revolution is the story of a man who, besieged by discrimination, death, and despair, found the courage and strength of spirit to conceive and create a unique healing vision-the AIDS Memorial Quilt.Against the turbulent backdrop of politics and sexual liberation in San Francisco during the seventies, Jones recounts his coming-of-age alongside friend and mentor Harvey Milk -- and, later, Milk's assassination and the ensuing riots that threatened to tear down all they had accomplished. But Jones's political aspirations were put on hold after the emergence of an insidious, unexplainable "gay cancer" that would soon become known throughout the world as AIDS. Demoralized by the tide of death and despair sweeping his community, brutally assaulted by gay-bashing thugs, and faced with the specter of his own positive diagnosis, Jones sought a way to restore hope to a world falling apart beneath his feet. What started out as a simple panel of fabric stitched for his best friend now covers a space larger than twenty-five football fields and contains over eighty thousand names. The Quilt has affected the lives of many people, bridging racial, sexual, and religious barriers to unite millions in the fight against AIDS. Stitching a Revolution is a compelling, dramatic tale with a cast of memorable characters from all walks of life. At times uplifting, at times heartwrenching, this inspiring story reveals what it means to be human and how the power of love conquers all -- even death.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
An Emotional, Moving Memoir May 23, 2002
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
For those of us who were fortunate enough to be in Washington on that cold morning in October, 1987 and see the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt unfurled for the first time, we should thank Cleve Jones for both his idea of the quilt as a memorial to those who died of AIDS and this wonderful book he has written. The quilt has almost become a cliche for some of us now-- we have seen it so many times in so many different variations and sizes-- that I did not believe I could be so moved and relive that intensely emotional and poignant day in October. I was wrong. I was taken by Mr. Jones' sincerity and utter lack of egotism. He is remarkably candid about his own life as he takes the reader through his own experiences as a young gay activist in San Francisco, his role in the history of the quilt and his own diagnosis with HIV.Mr. Jones reminds me of things I had forgotten or repressed: a lot about the heroism of Harvey Milk, for example, the awfulness of Anita Bryant, the indifference of the first President Bush who was too busy to see the quilt, of President Clinton, along with Mrs. Clinton and the Gores, who was not too busy to pay tribute to those who had fallen. We get to see some of our national celebrities in a new light: the gentle Rosa Parks, the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor frightened at making a speech, and finally Jane Fonda who can only be described as totally silly in her adoration of Tom Hayden. A friend of mine who has seen the quilt in its entirety many times and is active in the Names Project in his hometown in Maine says that he can only read this book a little at a time. Yes, it's very viseral, sometimes painful, and it will make you cry. In the Epilogue Mr. Jones writes: "My hope is that one day AIDS will be over and we will have to look upon all its different aspects: how it drew a country together from across cultural, ethnic, and religious divisions, and how it was, like the Holocaust, a crucible of definition. I think the Quilt will have a role in this discussion and a place in our history as memory is preserved and recreated imn this symbol of our natural desire for commuity." And you, Mr. Jones, will have a place in that history. Many Americans cannot thank you enough for that.
A great history lesson August 19, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Cleve Jones has done many wonderful things for the gay community. Now he adds this wonderful, heartfelt memior. This volume is more than "just" a memoir, it's a rich and rewarding history lesson, an eye witness account. Throught the past twenty-five years Jones has been a witness to murder, a victim of hate crimes, an activist for gay rights, a rioter, a mourner, a survivor and a an ambassador of hope and good will. This is the story of the AIDS Quilt, from its beginnings to its eventual recognition as an international symbol of peace, reconciliation and unity. Cleve Jones takes a refreshingly candid, warts-and-all approach to telling his story. He depicts himself as an ordianry man responding to extraordinary circumstances in the only way he knew how. Past imperfect, but always willing to do whatever was necessary to bring his message to the people, Cleve helped to put a human face on AIDS.
You Can Make A Difference - Read Cleve Jones' Odyssey April 15, 2000
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The AIDS Memorial Quilt has been the most humanizing, uplifting and unifying symbol of the battle against the AIDS virus. As an activist, viewer of the Quilt, and twice a volunteer, I read Mr. Jones book greedily. People need to know what he has to say. People need to know the impact their actions can have on world perceptions; that they can make a difference. People need to know the history of the epidemic - reflected in the experiences of a person immersed in the culture impacted first: how the gay community, so brutally attacked, fought back and set up the protocols now being used by all sectors of society all over the world.The book is a good read, very accessible, as simple as the concept of the Quilt and as insightful. I thank Cleve Jones for giving humanity the Quilt and this telling of how it came to be.
"Stitching A Revolution" Must be read! March 27, 2000
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
As an AIDS activist, I would implore everyone to read this account of how one man can take an idea and turn it into a world-wide reality.Cleve Jones writes honestly and from the heart - not about sex, not about dirt, but about the true experience of growing up as a gay man, coming out, and dealing with AIDS from the beginning up until now. His vision in making the Quilt a reality, and the many stories that go with it bring tears and laughter, while pointing out the universality of both AIDS and The AIDS Memorial Quilt. If his book tour comes to your town - run to that book store. His speaking skills are extrordinary as well. If only this could become required reading for our youth - the generation that most needs to hear the message and is frighteningly under-educated about a disease which can end their lives.
A Transforming Journey March 21, 2000
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
While the emotion of experiencing the Quilt cannot be confined to mere words, this inspiring journey to activism and openness is a fascinating read. In 1995, while in San Francisco to say a heartbreaking goodbye to my dearest brother, I entered the NAMES project offices and was instantly overwhelmed by the raw emotion--not just sadness, which is the obvious response, but also a healing, a unity and a strength. I have never been so moved--until I traveled to DC to witness the 1996 display. A part of me travels with my brother's panel wherever it goes, and this book was a cathartic reliving of some of my most grueling and gratifying moments. 'Stitching a Revolution' is a treasure, a reminder that we often forget the power of one voice, and the staggering, wondrous results of bringing together disparate peoples.
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