When the Band Played On

Randy Shilts was the preeminent LGBTQ+ reporter of his generation. He was the first openly gay reporter assigned to a gay beat at a mainstream paper and one of the nation's most influential chroniclers of gay history, politics, and culture. Shilts wrote three seminal works on the community: The Mayor of Castro Street , on the life, assassination, and legacy of Harvey Milk; And the Band Played On , detailing the failure of politics as usual during the early AIDS epidemic; and Conduct Unbecoming ,