Books by Jim Downs

Standard histories of infectious disease celebrate brilliant minds such as Florence Nightingale, John Snow, and Robert Koch. In this unorthodox telling, Jim Downs focuses on a forgotten group of contributors: the conscript soldiers, colonial subjects, and enslaved people whose bodies were the experimental matter on which medical progress relied.

With Stand by Me, Jim Downs rewrites the history of gay life in the 1970s, arguing that the decade was about much more than sex and marching in the streets. Drawing on a vast trove of untapped records, Downs tells moving, revelatory stories of gay people who stood together to create a sense of community.

Provides a forum for scholars, activists, and novelists to reflect on the ways in which they use their writing and academic work to create social change. This volume uncovers the political agendas, social missions, and personal and professional experiences that compel writers to bring their stories to the page.