"Meticulous research and novelistic pacing… page-turning portrait of both a man and a moment… This book is an essential reminder of how recently our basic rights hung in the balance — and how easily they could again."— Chris Azzopardi Pride Source
"The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick recalls a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ activism and the Supreme Court… Reveal[s] the man behind the headlines and court documents."— Collin Kelley Rough Draft Atlanta
"[Padgett] is a persistent researcher… A gripping read, the book provides a detailed analysis on the landmark Supreme Court case."— JP O'Malley Sunday Independent
"A gifted historian and writer, Martin Padgett is an excellent guide… Padgett paints a vivid portrait of queer culture in 1980s Atlanta and elsewhere as LGBTQ+ men and women contended with legal peril and the horror of the AIDS epidemic, and grasped the promise of liberation."— Alden Mudge, BookPage, starred review
"Padgett brings Hardwick to vivid life, drawing on extensive interviews with his family and friends to paint a portrait of a kind-hearted artist who never intended to become an activist… A carefully researched, generous biography of a little-known gay rights figure."— Booklist
"[Hardwick’s] is a story that all should know… A lucid, rightfully indignant study that demands a renewed commitment to equality for all. "— Kirkus Reviews
"Padgett combines incisive legal analysis with vivid evocations of the AIDS-era gay experience… A captivating account of one man’s awakening to injustice."— Publishers Weekly
"As the increasingly right-leaning Supreme Court marches backward in time, all who believe that the arc of the moral universe will ultimately bend toward justice are in desperate need of a narrative as readable and moving as Martin Padgett’s The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick. Having argued the landmark constitutional case around which this gripping story pivots, I can say that it is by far the finest account of a personal, political, and legal saga like the one Hardwick’s brave life and premature death embodied."— Laurence Tribe
"A fascinating story, grounded in the complex oppression endured by American queers before the contemporary dynamics of commodification and legalization. Padgett’s loving engagement with Hardwick’s life reminds us that—despite stigma and state violence—queer and AIDS history is fundamentally the story of regular people who change the world through the power of personal integrity rooted in the truth of our lives."— Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP, New York, 1987–1993
"Martin Padgett has heroically rescued the shooting star of Michael Hardwick’s errant 1980s Supreme Court story and placed it firmly in the constellation of the most urgent queer American histories. Spinning the legacy of anti-sodomy challenges back to this foundational case in the HIV/AIDS crisis, The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick triumphs on both narrative and scholarly registers. Start polishing the awards."— Robert W. Fieseler, author of Tinder Box: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation
The little-known story of the man who sparked a groundswell of gay activism with a wrongly decided Supreme Court decision.
When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick's life-as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
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When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick's life-as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS
The little-known story of the man who sparked a groundswell of gay activism with a wrongly decided Supreme Court decision.
When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick's life-as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
When a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, Michael Hardwick had no idea that he would become an avatar of the gay rights movement. Arrested for sodomy, Hardwick sued for his right to privacy all the way to the Supreme Court, as the HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraled. When he lost, his era-defining case inspired a half-million people to protest against the Court. Today Bowers v. Hardwick continues to reverberate as the rights of privacy underpinning abortion, contraception, and same-sex relationships come under fire.
In this fiercely empathetic blend of biography and history, Martin Padgett tells the story of Hardwick's life-as a child of Stonewall, as an artist, and as one of thousands claimed by the epidemic. The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick reveals the halting shifts of American sexual politics, poses urgent questions about the Supreme Court, and returns to Hardwick some of the humanity stolen from him.
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The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940193930679 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 06/17/2025 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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