<div>In December 1995, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the release of protease inhibitors, the first effective treatment for AIDS. For countless people, the drug offered a reprieve from what had been a death sentence; for others, it was too late. In the United States alone, more than 318,000 people had already died from AIDS-related complications—among them the singer Michael Callen and the poet Essex Hemphill.<br><br>Relevant and heartbreaking” (<i>Bay Area Reporter</i>), incisive, passionate, and poetic” (<i>New York Journal of Books</i>), and engaging” (<i>Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide</i>),<i>Hold Tight Gently</i> is Martin Duberman’s poignant memorial to two of the great unsung heroes of the early years of the epidemic. Callen, the author of<i>How to Have Sex in an Epidemic</i> and co-founder of the popular a cappella group the Flirtations, was a leading figure in the fight against AIDS in the face of willful denial under the Reagan administration. Hemphill, a passionate activist and the author of the celebrated <i>Ceremonies</i>, was a critically acclaimed openly gay African American poet of searing intensity and introspection.<br><br>A profound exploration of the intersection of race, sexuality, class, and identity and the politics of AIDS activism,<i>Hold Tight Gently</i> captures both a generation struggling to cope with the deadly disease and the extraordinary refusal of two men to give in to despair.<br></div>