At twenty-five years old, Michael Stewart was looking to make a name for himself in the vibrant downtown art scene of the early 1980’s New York City. On September 15, 1983, he was beaten by New York City Transit Authority police for allegedly tagging a 14th Street subway station wall.
Witnesses reported officers beating him with billy clubs and choking him with a nightstick. Stewart arrived at Bellevue Hospital hog-tied with no heartbeat and died after thirteen days in a coma. This was, at that point, the most widely noticed act of police brutality in the city's history. The Man Nobody Killed recounts the cultural impact of Michael Stewart’s life and death.
The Stewart case quickly catalyzed movements across multiple communities. It became a rallying cry, taken up by artists and singers including Madonna, Keith Haring, Spike Lee, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, tabloid legends such as Jimmy Breslin and Murray Kempton, and the pioneering local news reporter, Gabe Pressman. The Stewart family and New York’s downtown arts community demanded justice for Michael, leading to multiple investigations into the circumstances of his wrongful death.
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York is about the long-forgotten early 1990s murders of men picked up in Manhattan gay bars and the resulting police investigations. It’s also about the lives of the victims, and the city's queer social scene and nightlife at the height of the AIDS epidemic.
Last Call won the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and has been adapted into a documentary series for HBO.
Elon Green, the author of Last Call, has written for the New York Times Magazine, The Awl, and New York. He is anthologized in Sarah Weinman’s Unspeakable Acts.
For inquiries about The Man Nobody Killed and Last Call, contact Liza Buell at Celadon Books.
For literary-related inquiries, including blurb requests, contact David Patterson of Stuart Krichevsky, and for entertainment-related inquiries, contact Jason Richman of United Talent Agency.
You may reach Green directly using the form below or at elon @ elongreen dot com.
