cover image I'll Not Go Quietly: Mary Fisher Speaks Out

I'll Not Go Quietly: Mary Fisher Speaks Out

Mary Fisher. Scribner Book Company, $19.5 (219pp) ISBN 978-0-684-80074-5

In 1992 Fisher, who defines herself as a Republican mother in her early 40s, spoke at the Republican National Convention in Houston about her HIV-positive status. Since she discovered that she had contracted AIDS from her late husband, Brian, Fisher has been speaking to as many groups as possible, advocating a loving, caring and nonjudgmental attitude to those with AIDS or carrying the HIV virus. Like her previous collection, Sleep with the Angels, the 25 speeches collected here are inspiring and persuasive. Calling herself ``a pilgrim on the road to AIDS,'' Fisher eloquently calls for an end to stigmatizing those who are HIV positive, and for a recognition that AIDS afflicts the rich and poor, gay and straight, black and white and children as well as adults. Fisher firmly believes that testing is an important tool in the fight against AIDS and here speaks in favor of a home testing kit produced by Johnson & Johnson. Moving b&w photos of Fisher's children accompany the text. (July)