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Podcast: New Books in American Studies
Episode: John S. Garrison, "Red Hot + Blue" (Bloomsbury, 2024)
Description: John Garrison's Red Hot + Blue (33 1/3 Series) (Bloomsbury, 2024)  is a meditation on music's capacity to find us, transform us, and help us make sense of our historical moment. In a narrative that blends memoir and history, Red Hot + Blue explores Garrison's coming out at the height of the AIDS crisis alongside the history of the music industry's response to the epidemic. The book's centerpiece is a major 1990 effort by musical artists to break through the silence and stigma about the disease. The resulting tribute album drew inspiration from the life and work of the legendary composer Cole Porter, who himself wrestl...