A Crisis of Meaning

• A poignant and uncompromising look at how gay men rebuild a world of meaning amid the uncertainly of the AIDS crisis
• Based on the author's experiences as a gay man and practicing psychotherapist and on in-depth interviews with 19 men living with AIDS
• Interweaves the men's candid and moving stories with observations from the author's research and clinical practice
• Both a keen psychological guide to living with AIDS and an elegaic chronicle of what life for many has become
• Selling point: A tremendously moving volume with a strong first-person angle—this is not a government report or issue paper
• Selling point: Topic is a vitally important one: the question of meaning is particularly salient for gay men living with HIV, against the backdrop of already having experienced multiple deaths of friends and lovers
• Selling point: Offers specific profiles for understanding how people have made sense of the catastrophe, and six recommendations for furthering a person's journey of meaning
• Selling point: Includes many detailed vignettes, some of individuals who are doing well and some who are not—this is not Pollyanna, and Schwartzberg is not advocating an aggressively perky or simplistic "take control of your life" stance
• Selling point: While Schwartzberg focuses on HIV, many of his thoughts relate to coping with any of a wide variety of deep adversity

Steven Schwartzberg, Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, USA

""Basing his work on interviews with 19 men living with AIDS, gay psychotherapist Schwartzberg discusses how HIV-positive gay men have been able to continue living meaningful lives."—Booklist"

""A Crisis in Meaning is precisely the book for which gay men have been eagerly waiting: a passionate yet balanced articulation of our struggles to make sense of a senseless epidemic and reconfigure meaning amid a culture of decimation. Steven Schwartzberg catalogues and astutely frames varied adaptations to HIV infection in insightful and lyrical prose, but allows the voices of men with HIV to claim center stage. In the tradition of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Schwartzberg's compelling book breaks new ground in forcing the reader to confront the complex, surprising, and often heroic ways the human spirit responds to catastrophe."—Eric Rofes, author of Reviving the Tribe: Regenerating Gay Men's Sexuality and Culture in the Ongoing Epidemic"

""In elucidating more broadly the response of the gay community to the AIDS epidemic, Schwartzberg, who is gay, brings a proud, concerned personal perspective to bear. He defines the response as a three-phased, disbelief followed first by action and then by grief overload, and ends by making a strong case for managing the cumulative grief communally."—Kirkus Reviews"

""This is a book that had to be written, and Steve Schwartzberg has done a wonderful job of it. Schwartzberg skillfully blends psychological research and theory with the poignant, thoughtful accounts provided by men living with AIDS. A Crisis of Meaning sensitively probes the complex and often surprising effects that AIDS has had. The work will be an invaluable resource to researchers and clinicians, as well as a highly readable, sometimes disturbing, but always enlightening account of the impact of the AIDS crisis."—Shelley E. Taylor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles"

"[A Crisis of Meaning] is an important addition to the ever expanding list of writings about this modern-day holocaust. It illuminates the physiological and emotional ramifications faced by those who live with AIDS and HIV.... For those who are HIV-positive or the primary caretakers or families or friends of people with AIDS, the book offers a powerful insight into the numerous options for coping in this crisis."—^{he Los Angeles Times"}