Of Milk, the Military, and the Plague
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WHEN THE BAND PLAYED ON
The Life of Randy Shilts, America’s Trailblazing Gay Journalist
by Michael G. Lee
Chicago Review Press. 373 pages, $30.

MICHAEL G. LEE begins his new biography of trailblazing gay journalist Randy Shilts with a 1970s San Francisco incident. Shilts meets a trick at a leather bar on Folsom Street and, after their encounter, says to the guy: “I’m one of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet.” After reading Lee’s book, one would be hard-pressed to disagree. Shilts was ambitious, arrogant, insecure, gifted, and at times more complicated than the stories he covered. For all his limitations, he was making history at the same time that he was reporting it.

Brian Bromberger is a freelance writer who works as a staff reporter and arts critic for The Bay Area Reporter.