ANDRIOTE, John-Manuel 1959-

PERSONAL:

Born 1959. Education: Gordon College, 1979.

ADDRESSES:

Home—1825 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009. Agent—Harper Entertainment, 10 East 53rd St., 20th floor, New York, NY 10022. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Freelance journalist, AIDS educator, and gay rights activist.

MEMBER:

National Press Club.

AWARDS, HONORS:

"Editors' Choice Award", Lambda Literary Awards, 2000, for Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America.

WRITINGS:

(With Andrew E. Falk and B. Henry Perez) The Art of Fine Cigars, Little, Brown, and Co., (Boston, MA), 1996.

Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1999.

Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco, Harper Entertainment (New York, NY), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

John-Manuel Andriote is a freelance journalist and AIDS educator who resides in Washington, DC. He has written on diverse topics, but is most noted for his writings on AIDS, including the award-winning Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America. He is also a champion for gay rights.

Andriote cowrote his first book, The Art of Fine Cigars, with Andrew E. Falk and B. Henry Perez. It offers an overview of the world of cigars and cigar smoking and received mixed reviews. Eric Jacobs of New Statesman found the book had "nothing of much interest to say on the subject." He criticized it for providing "enough offbeat facts for readers to polish their expertise, so helping to promote cigar-smoking as a sophisticated art rather than the mere taste or addiction it is." Jacobs also had problems with the accuracy of certain statements made in the book. However, as Andriote noted on the Hall Entertainment Web site, The Art of Fine Cigars went into its second printing only a few months after its original publication. Andriote was pleased with readers' responses to the book and felt his and his coauthors' goals as writers had been accomplished. He stated, "What we've heard is that readers find the book's casual, non-pedantic tone to be a refreshing change from other cigar books on the market. That was our aim in writing the book."

Andriote's next work, Victory Deferred, chronicles the rise of AIDS in America and its effect on the life and politics of the gay community. The text received the 2000 Lambda Literary Awards' "Editor's Choice Award" and was a finalist for the American Library Association's Gay Book Award in the category of nonfiction. As Andriote noted in an interview on the University of Chicago Web site, the title for the book comes from a Walt Whitman poem. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly described the book as "a well researched and nuanced portrait of the many levels on which this grave disease has wrought both destruction and transformation." James E. Van Buskirk of Library Journal stated, "Andriote combines broad strokes and telling details in this engaging history of the complicated war against both disease and bigotry." Michael Walker of Oasis Magazine Online called it "a gem of a book" and "one of the most lucid and comprehensive accounts available on the social and political ramifications of AIDS for the gay community in the United States." Jim Graham of Lambda Book Report wrote that the first 200 pages "evidenced solid craftsmanship" but noted that "much of the book was not as colorful." Graham also felt that Andriote wavered between objective and personal in the text. The reviewer stated, "I often wondered whether the author had successfully resolved the question of whether he was—or was not to be—in the book." Jonathan Rauch of the Los Angeles Times commented that the book does not live up to what its subtitle promises, that being how AIDS changed gay life, and rather "its real concern is how AIDS changed gay activism in America." A contributor for Kirkus Reviews found that "Andriote provides such an extensive range of material that depth is sometimes lost to the sheer number of narratives" but concluded, Victory Deferred is "a rousing and readable history, mammoth in scope yet minute in detail."

Andriote's third book, Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco, looks at this musical and cultural phenomenon, from its profitable rise to its presence and influence nearly twenty years later. Mike Tribby of Booklist called the book "fan-friendly puffery that painlessly imparts a bit of pop music history." A reviewer from Publishers Weekly felt that the work marginalized disco and stated, "fans of the music will find little new here, especially if they've already bought Saturday Night Forever." However, Jan Chapman of Voice of Youth Advocates wrote, "The author presents a well-researched and informative account of the subject."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 2001, Mike Tribby, review of Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco, p. 1216.

Kirkus Reviews, 1999, review of Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America.

Lambda Book Report, June, 1999, Jim Graham, review of Victory Deferred, p. 19.

Library Journal, April 1, 1999, James E. Van Buskirk, review of Victory Deferred, p. 118.

Los Angeles Times, October 31, 1999, Jonathan Rauch, "Boys to Men: The Paradox of Identity and the Culture of Possibility," p. 4.

New Statesman, September 19, 1997, Eric Jacobs, review of The Art of Fine Cigars, p. 48.

Publishers Weekly, May 10, 1999, review of Victory Deferred, p. 47; January 22, 2001, review of Hot Stuff, p. 310.

Record, August 30, 2001, "Member-Writers' Festival."

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2001, Jan Chapman, review of Hot Stuff, p. 295.

Washington Blade, June 1, 2001, John-Manuel Andriote, "AIDS Anniversary: A Chance to Honor Heroes."

ONLINE

Gordon College AlmaMatters Web site,http://www.gordon.edu/alumni/AlmaMatters/ (November, 2000), "Class Notes: 1970s."

Hall Entertainment Web site,http://www.hallentertainment.com/ (March 3, 1997), John-Manuel Andriote, "This Book is a Must for the Novice and Connoisseur Alike."

International Gay and Lesbian Review Web site,http://www.usc.edu/isd/archives/oneigla/onepress/ (August 21, 2001), abstract of "Victory Deferred."

Oasis Magazine Online,http://www.oasismag.com/ (August 21, 2001), Michael Walker, review of "Victory Deferred."

Out in the Workplace,http://www.outintheworkplace.com/ (August 21, 2001).

Stephen Brophy,http://www.stephenbrophy.org/ (January 27, 2000), Stephen Brophy, "ALA Gay Book Winners."

University of Chicago Web sitehttp://www.press.uchicago.edu/ (August 21, 2001), "An Interview with John-Manuel Andriote."*