And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.88 (652 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0312241356 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 656 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-06-12 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
. Shilts doesn't stop there, wondering why more people in the gay community, the mass media and the country at large didn't stand up in anger more quickly. His work is critical of the medical and scientific communities' initial response and particularly harsh on the Reagan Administration, who he claims cut funding, ignored calls for action and deliberately misled Congress. Shilts researched and reported the book exhaustively, chronicling almost day-by-day the first five years of AIDS. In the first major book on AIDS, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts examines the making of an epidemic. The AIDS pandemic is one of the most striking developments of the late 20th century and this is the definitive story of its beginnings
And the Band Played On is both a tribute to these heroic people and a stinging indictment of the institutions that failed the nation so badly.. Shilts shows that the epidemic spread wildly because the federal government put budget ahead of the nation's welfare; health authorities placed political expediency before the public health; and scientists were often more concerned with international prestige than saving lives. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously? In answering these questions, Shilts weaves weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments. By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. Against this back
Reagan fiddled while San Francisco burned Lewis H. Whitaker This white hot memoir of the discovery of the AIDS virus and the race for its recognition is a searing indictment of American inaction and an aloof Reagan administration. The "Butcher's Bill," the tally of deaths to AIDS, is a steady drumbeat in each chapter as LGBT activists on the ground race to care for the dying as bureaucracy hampers research and recognition for the virus. Shilts, who eventually succumbed to the virus, does not pretend to report independently, but rather as a member of the group of men most at risk. Of particular interest is the stylistic difference in the way East Coast LGBT organizations differed from their counterpart. All of these years after AIDS first starting making it's terrible presence known I first read the original right after if was published. I bought this to reread so that I don't forget. All of these years after AIDS first starting making it's terrible presence known, it's a terrific book to know about the beginnings. "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Edmund Burke. It's so sad to read what gay men went through during the Ryanbuc007 I have only read 80% of the book. It was wearing on my emotions and I had to put it down. It's so sad to read what gay men went through during the AIDS epidemic. I have a new respect for people who survived this era (my husband included). I will eventually finish reading the book.