All the young men: How one woman risked it all to care for the dying by Ruth Coker Burks and Kevin Carr O'Leary
Hachette, 2020. ISBN: 9781409189114.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Ruth describes this book as a memoir
of love, AIDS and chosen family in the American South. The reader
will find this book is about genuine human kindness and selfless
compassion.
Ruth's life takes an unexpected turn one day when visiting her
friend, Bonnie, who is in hospital for cancer treatment. Observing
nursing staff reluctant to care for a patient calling for help, Ruth
takes action to support a young man as he takes his last breath.
This happened in Hot Springs when the AIDS epidemic had heightened
fears and homophobia in the general public. Misinformation about
ways the disease was contracted marginalised sufferers, and those
who supported them.
The reader comes to understand more about Ruth, her daughter Allison
and her ex-husband. Ruth has a complex history that forged an
enduring resilience and positivity that drove Ruth to create
innovative ways to assist and protect AIDS sufferers. As news of her
special qualities spread, the numbers she supported swelled to being
in the hundreds.
Ruth describes herself as a regular person, however the depth of her
compassion and her capacity to create connections/relationships in
order to advocate for the young men sets her apart from a regular
person. Because of that, this book is difficult to put down and the
reader is moved to tears and/or anger as Ruth describes the
behaviours of families, medical professionals, religious leaders and
community members along with the ways the public health system
failed to take the epidemic seriously. Ruth's selfless love for
others, combined with a persistence and willingness to take
calculated risks meant the world to the young men abandoned by
everyone else and that makes this is an important book for today.
Ruth continues to advocate for the LGBTQ community and decided to
write this memoir following the sharing of an unauthorised film about her work.
Themes: Relationships (family, friends), Homophobia, AIDS, Religion,
Ethics (medical).
Linda Guthrie