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4.49 AVERAGE
4.49 AVERAGE
Absolutely fantastic! This book manages to be informative about the epidemic without ever becoming boring. This book is great because it really hones in on the personal perspective of the people within the epidemic, which makes it read like fiction. It is absolutely heartbreaking at times, occasionally funny, and very informative.
This would have to be the most impactful book I have ever read. It is a difficult read, not just because of the endless bureaucratic acronyms to remember and the repetitive mid-century names like Jim or Bob or Larry; but also because of the painful truth that for years, American leaders - straight and gay - allowed thousands of people to die with their politicking and inaction. I feel like I understand a little more about how the world works.
This is a doorstop book that was recommended to me by my boss when I was 21 years old. I hunted it down, and now re-read it every 2 years. It is by far the most comprehensive study of the AIDS virus and its impact on the world (particularly the US) since its discovery. Randy Shilts covers multiple continents and scenarios including but not limited to the reaction of the US blood bank industry, politics and the widely acknowledged but disputed patient zero. Throughout it all the tragedy is the power the conservative parties managed to wield to suppress funding, research and public education. By the time Ronald Regan finally said the word "AIDS" in a speech, tens of thousands of cases had already been reported. That's not to say the epidemic was a political disaster; the scientists involved contributed just as much to the progression of the disease as they did to discovering it. The fears and misconceptions passed on from scientists became distorted by mis-education, fear and prejudice, and that was before the scientific community was split by egotistical bickering over who had 'discovered' it (US vs French).
Traceable incidents of AIDS in the US exist from 1959, and it wasn't until the 70s and 80s that it reached epidemic proportions. There were SO many opportunities for it to have been managed, or at least have gotten the jump on research. Unfortunately commerce, politics (it wasn't taken seriously until heterosexual cases presented after blood transfusions) and ego were the achilles heel.
One of the quotes in the book that has me in tears every time is when a HIV+ guy in the movie says "This is not a political issue. This is a health issue. This is not a gay issue. This is a human issue. And I do not intend to be defeated by it. I came here today in the hope that my epitaph would not read that I died of red tape."
This book presents the situation from all sides of the story, and that makes it all the more powerful.
Traceable incidents of AIDS in the US exist from 1959, and it wasn't until the 70s and 80s that it reached epidemic proportions. There were SO many opportunities for it to have been managed, or at least have gotten the jump on research. Unfortunately commerce, politics (it wasn't taken seriously until heterosexual cases presented after blood transfusions) and ego were the achilles heel.
One of the quotes in the book that has me in tears every time is when a HIV+ guy in the movie says "This is not a political issue. This is a health issue. This is not a gay issue. This is a human issue. And I do not intend to be defeated by it. I came here today in the hope that my epitaph would not read that I died of red tape."
This book presents the situation from all sides of the story, and that makes it all the more powerful.
There is conclusive DNA evidence now that Gaeton Dugas was not the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in America and that there was no patient zero. Despite that, this is an amazing record of a time from the late 70s to the mid 80s of the unfolding of the AIDS epidemic. I believe it is a must read.
informative
sad
slow-paced
There is SO MUCH I did not know/understand about the AIDS crisis in the early/mid-80s. This book does an incredible job of laying out in detail all of the factors that made this crisis far worse than it should have been. This book is long, and I will say about 2/3 of the way in, I started to glaze over with all of the information... but it's worthwhile to read and better understand mistakes we've made in the past (and unfortunately that we seem to continue to make) when it comes to public health when marginalized groups are most affected.
I have lived a thousand lives and suffered a thousand deaths from reading this book.
This book can only be described as an insurmountable experience of total and complete immersion into the aids hysteria of the 80s. In total disbelief you are pushed and pulled from hope to macabre. A horrible dichotomy that never lets up. Most likely because this book was published in 1987 when AIDS and its problems were still very present in society.
You begin after getting used to the comparative emotions while starting the book to establish, especially if you’re American, the justices that will come- except there is not justice. There aren’t even villains, except when there are. The only people you could truly blame this on is the Reagan administration. But even throughout the book we see conservatives putting the rights of not just AIDS patient but gay AIDS patients into consideration so what’s more the villian is a epistemic more than a singular person. A epistemology that invaded social institutions as important and influential as the government, the military, the family, the church, and this is of course, homophobia.
Homophobia is what causes the laissez faire attitude toward the beginning of the epidemic and the government, Drs., scientist, belief of gays “reeping what is deservedly sowed” is what causes the gay reactions, especially in San Francisco to the potential closure of the bathhouses. In this book, good people are bad in that current setting, the reader, is, enjoying their Phoenix like reincarnation as something of saints, becoming christened by their warnings, policies, and scientific work that would go on to be ignored and if not could have healed a nation(s) before a complete rapture, similar to the Catholic saints who healed.
Something that came to my after reading this book, whether it’s a quote I’ve read or heard before or from within me is “Sometimes a book moves you so much you MUST write. There are not simply words on those pages but calls to action” This book has changed me and the way I look at life, the way in which the tenacity of the gay and lgbtq community has. This book gives me hope in the upcoming election that as a young woman, there are people who are moral and who care.
This book can only be described as an insurmountable experience of total and complete immersion into the aids hysteria of the 80s. In total disbelief you are pushed and pulled from hope to macabre. A horrible dichotomy that never lets up. Most likely because this book was published in 1987 when AIDS and its problems were still very present in society.
You begin after getting used to the comparative emotions while starting the book to establish, especially if you’re American, the justices that will come- except there is not justice. There aren’t even villains, except when there are. The only people you could truly blame this on is the Reagan administration. But even throughout the book we see conservatives putting the rights of not just AIDS patient but gay AIDS patients into consideration so what’s more the villian is a epistemic more than a singular person. A epistemology that invaded social institutions as important and influential as the government, the military, the family, the church, and this is of course, homophobia.
Homophobia is what causes the laissez faire attitude toward the beginning of the epidemic and the government, Drs., scientist, belief of gays “reeping what is deservedly sowed” is what causes the gay reactions, especially in San Francisco to the potential closure of the bathhouses. In this book, good people are bad in that current setting, the reader, is, enjoying their Phoenix like reincarnation as something of saints, becoming christened by their warnings, policies, and scientific work that would go on to be ignored and if not could have healed a nation(s) before a complete rapture, similar to the Catholic saints who healed.
Something that came to my after reading this book, whether it’s a quote I’ve read or heard before or from within me is “Sometimes a book moves you so much you MUST write. There are not simply words on those pages but calls to action” This book has changed me and the way I look at life, the way in which the tenacity of the gay and lgbtq community has. This book gives me hope in the upcoming election that as a young woman, there are people who are moral and who care.
The beginning of the book is thrilling - jumping between different locations as people start to develop unusual signs and symptoms, and people are trying to figure out what is going on. It reads like a remarkable medical mystery unfolding. Through the middle of the book, I find it gets a bit bogged down in the nitty-gritty politics of many groups (blood banks, public health departments, etc.), and it seems like the same events are repeating at times... it drags a bit in my opinion, which is why I drop the rating to 3 stars. Overall however, while I wish the second 2/3 were a bit more concise, the facts themselves are fascinating.
This is a bone chilling read - it lays out with extreme detail how at every level, over years, American society failed to respond to a horrifying epidemic as it was taking the lives of hundreds of young people. My feeling after reading this book is just sorrow for the missed opportunity - so many lives could have been saved if the American government had put money and leadership into controlling this epidemic before it got out of hand.
What's so disheartening however, is how little I feel we've learned. There are a frightening number of parallels that can be recognized reading through this book to how we've responded to the COVID19 pandemic. Moreover, it still seems (to me at least) that the AIDS epidemic is still not widely acknowledged for the horror that it was/is. After reading this book, I can't believe that Reagan's failure to respond meaningfully to control this epidemic in the early stages is not thought of as a defining failure of his presidency.
This is a bone chilling read - it lays out with extreme detail how at every level, over years, American society failed to respond to a horrifying epidemic as it was taking the lives of hundreds of young people. My feeling after reading this book is just sorrow for the missed opportunity - so many lives could have been saved if the American government had put money and leadership into controlling this epidemic before it got out of hand.
What's so disheartening however, is how little I feel we've learned. There are a frightening number of parallels that can be recognized reading through this book to how we've responded to the COVID19 pandemic. Moreover, it still seems (to me at least) that the AIDS epidemic is still not widely acknowledged for the horror that it was/is. After reading this book, I can't believe that Reagan's failure to respond meaningfully to control this epidemic in the early stages is not thought of as a defining failure of his presidency.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced