{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645036588?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"1645036588","authors":["Jack Lowery"],"book_id":"9781645036586","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781645036586","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781645036586.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","description":"An “unsparing account” ( NPR ) of art collective Gran Fury, which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury formed to campaign against corporate greed, government inaction, stigma, and public indifference to the epidemic. Writer Jack Lowery examines Gran Fury’s art and activism from iconic images like the “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster to the act of dropping piles of fake bills onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Lowery offers a complex, moving portrait of a collective and its members, who built essential solidarities with each other and whose lives evidenced the profound trauma of enduring the AIDS crisis.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781645036586","publication_date":"20220405","publisher":"PublicAffairs","slug":"it-was-vulgar-and-it-was-beautiful","subtitle":"How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic","title":"It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"ART037000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Art & Politics","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS054000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Social History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC064000","confidence_band":"high","label":"LGBTQ+ Studies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}],"hint":[],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ART037000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Art & Politics","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS054000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Social History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC064000","confidence_band":"high","label":"LGBTQ+ Studies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Art & Politics","score":1,"slug":"art-politics"},{"label":"Social History","score":1,"slug":"social-history"},{"label":"LGBTQ+ Studies","score":1,"slug":"lgbtq-studies"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Art & Politics","Good for readers interested in queer","Good for readers who enjoy Art & Politics and Social History."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"Books that trace how artists have confronted political intimidation, organized collective protest, and fought to protect free expression and cultural institutions from state pressure.","slug":"cultural-currents-jane-fonda-arts-activism-free-expression","title":"Artists Against The State: Protest, Censorship, and Cultural Power","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/cultural-currents-jane-fonda-arts-activism-free-expression"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Eric Cervini"],"book_id":"9781250798503","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250798503.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":12.4756,"title":"The Deviant's War","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250798503"},{"authors":["Michael Hall"],"book_id":"9781781301142","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781781301142.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":12.181,"title":"A Queer Inheritance","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781781301142"},{"authors":["Greg Melville"],"book_id":"9781419754869","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781419754869.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":8.8808,"title":"Over My Dead Body","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781419754869"},{"authors":["Huw Lemmey","Ben Miller"],"book_id":"9781839763281","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781839763281.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":8.0581,"title":"Bad Gays","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781839763281"},{"authors":["Samantha Allen"],"book_id":"9780316516020","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780316516020.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":8.0026,"title":"Real Queer America","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780316516020"},{"authors":["Linda Hirshman","Linda R. Hirshman"],"book_id":"9781328566447","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781328566447.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":7.976,"title":"Reckoning","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781328566447"},{"authors":["Marci Blackman","Trebor Healey","Susie Bright","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780916397302","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780916397302.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":7.9718,"title":"Beyond Definition","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780916397302"},{"authors":["Annie Ernaux","Alison L. 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