Ruth D. Reichard recently published a new book based on her 2015 Indiana University doctoral dissertation. The book titled Blood and Steel: Ryan White, the AIDS Crisis and Deindustrialization in Kokomo, Indiana is an urban and social history that examines how two historical developments—the emergence of the AIDS pandemic and the ongoing deindustrialization of the Midwest—divided a community.
Set in the 1980s against a backdrop of the AIDS crisis, deindustrialization and the Reagan era, Blood and Steel tells the story of one individual’s defiant struggle against his community—the city of Kokomo, Indiana. At the same time as teenage AIDS patient Ryan White bravely fought against the intolerance of his hometown to attend public school, one of Kokomo’s largest employers, Continental Steel, filed for bankruptcy, significantly raising the stakes of the fight for the city’s livelihood and national image. This book tells the story of a fearful time in our recent history, as people in the heartland endured massive layoffs, coped with a lethal new disease, battled the stigma that came with national condemnation, and discovered a legacy of toxic waste.
Learn more here:
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/blood-and-steel/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-and-steel-ruth-d-reichard/1138909537
Ruth D. Reichard resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a historian and attorney as well as an IAH member.