Cover Crush: The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by David Levithan & Gabriel Duckels

Posted on the eve of World AIDS Day; even if our government won’t acknowledge it, we will.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, a day that has anchored remembrance, activism, and community care for more than three decades. Even as the U.S. government quietly steps back from recognizing it, queer communities and allies continue to hold the line. We remember. We honor. We fight.

And that’s why the cover of David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels’ The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America hits so hard.

The cover is a tapestry of real quotes from people directly impacted by the AIDS crisis. Words from those who lived, those who marched, those who grieved, those who refused to let their friends be forgotten. The cover reads like a living memorial, a wall of testimony that refuses to be erased, diminished, or rewritten.

David has always written with a deep sense of queer lineage, and this cover makes that lineage visible before you even open the book. It honors the voices that shaped the fight, and reminds us that the fight isn’t over.

On the day before World AIDS Day, this cover is a powerful reminder: We carry these stories. We continue the work. We refuse to forget.

The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America

by David Levithan, Gabriel Duckels
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
on April 21, 2026
Bookshop
Goodreads

A thoughtful, poignant look at the AIDS crisis in the United States that includes primary source interviews, history, medical research, and cultural touchpoints.
The AIDS crisis in America is complex and composed of countless individual stories of grief, love, and advocacy. Its history shows the power of youth activism, how creativity and community can be vehicles for social change, and how bigotry and misinformation led to inequality in care.
The early days of the AIDS crisis saw LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities making strides in the fight for equality. As many people in positions of power were slow to act or actively didn’t pay attention until their own communities were affected, the fight for equality turned into a fight for their lives. Grassroots efforts filled in gaps where mainstream medicine and politics failed, and over time, a cultural shift of awareness emerged, which led to more research and more treatments. And while the disease has transitioned from a death sentence to one that people can live full lives with, there are still people dying of HIV/AIDS today because they can’t access the care they need. The fight may have begun decades ago, but is not yet over.
Award-winning author David Levithan and University of Cambridge PhD Gabriel Duckels detail a brief history of the epidemic, touching on key moments and figures, such as Ryan White, ACT UP, Larry Kramer and Anthony Fauci, Pedro Zamora from MTV’s The Real World, and the Names Quilt. Threaded throughout are poems, essays, and other creative works, in addition to first-person interviews and narratives. The most important takeaway is that we must remember. We need to know what happened and why. Our voices are powerful, and they can make a difference.