Never Silent

ACT UP and My Life in Activism

By: Peter Staley

Narrated by: Peter Staley

In 1987, somebody shoved a flyer into the hand of Peter Staley: Massive AIDS demonstration, it announced. After four years on Wall Street as a closeted gay man, Staley was familiar with the homophobia common on trading floors. He also knew that he was not beyond the reach of HIV, having recently been diagnosed with AIDS-related complex.

A week after the protest, Staley found his way to a packed meeting of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power - ACT UP - in the West Village. It would prove to be the best decision he ever made. ACT UP would change the course of AIDS, pressuring the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and three administrations to finally respond with research that ultimately saved millions of lives.

Staley, a shrewd strategist with nerves of steel, organized some of the group's most spectacular actions, from shutting down trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to putting a giant condom over the house of Senator Jesse Helms. Never Silent is the inside story of what brought Staley to ACT UP and the explosive and sometimes painful years to follow - years filled with triumph, humiliation, joy, loss, and persistence.

©2022 Peter Staley (P)2021 Tantor

Recharge your activism battery

A compelling, funny, candid story that can remind you what you love about activism. Feels like the author is sitting across from you hours after dinner has ended but there’s still a little more wine, one more piece of cake everyone is taking smaller and smaller bites of, while everyone waits for someone else to go home first.

Amazing history from someone who was there.

A must read for history but more importantly to remind us of our own power as a community.

Amazing Piece of History

I have always admired Peter Staley for his work and activism. This book seals it for me. I will continue to look up to him.

Perfection!

This book means everything to me. It was impossible not to break down an cry as I relived those periods on my life. Beautiful memoir and beautifully done complete with a call to action. Thank you Peter Staley. ❤️

Important history

This book gives a tantalizing account of someone on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic. While showing the reader what life after 1997 is for the survivors. This story matters and should be remembered.

A story needed.

Peter tells his story like an old friend, grab a beer embrace the story of a time society try’s to forget. As a gay teenager in the 80s my heartfelt thanks to all the members of act up. Fantastically written, I laughed, I cried. Thank you Peter for sharing your story.

loved this book so much!

As a former member of ACTUP Golden Gate, I can't describe how moving, inspiring, and unflinchingly accurate this telling of AIDS activism is.

I cried throughout the entire thing. Not all the time, and sometimes not even at the sad parts... but the remembrance of joy and of the activist giants who left us too soon.

ACTUP NY is, of course, legendary. And none of the actions I participated in myself were of the same grandeur, I listened with rapt attention to the stories of exactly how some of these amazing actions (which I only new about from the press afterwards) came to be. From the outside, they seemed virtually flawless - and although the meticulous planning is not to be discounted - the element of sheer luck that allowed for their success was surprising to hear!

Thank you, Peter, for writing this... for living it and for saving all the souls you did.❤

A powerful reminder we still battle

Man, this was a powerful trip down memory lane. I have watched “How to survive a plague” and it brought me back to my youth and the struggle to keep people alive. So many, many lives lost to a plague and the battles we fought to get where we are. Thank you, Peter and all those who fought the battle.

Even more wonderful than thought it would be!

This was wonderful, I see Peter Staley as a hero, and it was great knowing some of the details behind all the act up pictures and videos that we see in documentaries and such.. Absolutely loved it! Thank you Peter for everything you've done and everything you went through and fight for.