More of Kushner's provocative writing can be found in Thinking about the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness: Essays, A Play, Two Poems, and a Prayer (1995). As the detailed title suggests, the work includes another play, Slavs!, along with Kushner's essays on relationships, sexuality, identity, and American politics.

Larry Kramer's 1985 drama The Normal Heart explores the AIDS epidemic at a time when the public was just becoming aware of the crisis. The play portrays the early history of the disease and criticizes the government, media, and conservative religious groups for neglecting the public health threat by labeling the epidemic a "gay plague."

Kushner acknowledges the significant influence of German playwright Bertolt Brecht on his writing style. Some of Brecht's well-known epic plays include Mother Courage and Her Children, The Good Woman of Setzuan, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and The Threepenny Opera.

After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s (1998) by Robert Wuthnow suggests that in recent decades, Americans have transitioned from a "spirituality of dwelling" to a "spirituality of seeking." This seeking process involves exploring new beliefs and religions, as well as personal encounters with spiritual figures, such as angels.

Citizen Cohn (1988) by Nicholas Von Hoffman is a biography of Roy Marcus Cohn, a ruthless lawyer, fervent anti-communist, closeted homosexual, and infamous figure of the Cold War era. The book (also adapted into a feature film starring James Woods as Cohn, available on video) provides a disturbing look at the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, the Rosenberg trial, Cohn's behind-the-scenes manipulations, his secret sexual identity, and his death from AIDS in 1986.