Unlike most books describing people with AIDS and HIV, this one is compiled almost entirely from their own words. The idea was conceived in the course of planning the 5th International Conference of People with HIV and AIDS, which took place in London in September 1991, with about 550 participants from more than 50 countries. One of the book's editors, Dietmar Bolle, who died from AIDS in January 1992 after a seven-year fight, was the organizer of the conference. He invited applicants to send, with their registration forms, their personal stories for possible publication, and these accounts were supplemented with interviews.