An essential read for young adults seeking to understand a pivotal chapter in American LGBTQ history.

“Enlightening, inspiring, and moving.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Bausum writes with the precision of a journalist . . . her observations and her conclusions about the persecution and resilience of the LGBTQ community all the more powerful.”—The Horn Book, starred review

“Bausum paints a vivid picture of the three nights of rioting that became the focal point for activists.”—School Library Journal, starred review

It began in 1981 as a medical mystery.

There was no official name, no known cause, and no hope for a cure. At first, it mostly showed up in gay men—some of the most marginalized people in the United States at that time. At its worst it killed more than fifty thousand Americans in a single year.

It was AIDS.

In what turned out to be an era of denial, fear, and unimaginable loss, countless brave activists confronted this devastating syndrome. They organized and protested for recognition, for life-saving research funding, and for the basic civil rights of people with AIDS. An HIV/AIDS diagnosis is no longer considered a death sentence in the United States. VIRAL tells the searing story of how that came to be.