And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jul 16, 2020 Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-nonfiction, lgbtqia, nonfiction, radical-nonfiction, nyc, audiobooks, sexuality, california

This towering giant in the history of AIDS literature was well worth my time. Though the angle on patient zero of the AIDS epidemic it espouses has since been debunked, if you read/listen to the book knowing that, it is absolutely worth your time. Randy Shilts set out to chronicle the activism - particularly the part centered in San Francisco - around the epidemic in the US. In this tome (it is LONG, with the audio clocking in at about 30 hours, if I remember correctly, and the print version alm This towering giant in the history of AIDS literature was well worth my time. Though the angle on patient zero of the AIDS epidemic it espouses has since been debunked, if you read/listen to the book knowing that, it is absolutely worth your time. Randy Shilts set out to chronicle the activism - particularly the part centered in San Francisco - around the epidemic in the US. In this tome (it is LONG, with the audio clocking in at about 30 hours, if I remember correctly, and the print version almost 700 pages), he examines that activism on the part of multiple groups - traditional activists, yes, but also doctors, scientists, politicians, for example. I learned a ton about the potent mix of factors that exacerbated the AIDS crisis into a full-blown plague. It was also instructive (sometimes reassuring, actually, and sometimes terrifying) to be reading this book in the COVID era; there were many parallels, not just the presence of Tony Fauci, but also, apparently, people's reactions to epidemics are fairly predictable even as they are destructive. It also moved me, alternatively, to tears of despair, anger, joy, and triumph. It is a profoundly moving experience to read about the early days of the AIDS epidemic now, in 2020, because though there are still so many cases of AIDS in the world, the possibility exists for it to be a chronic disease instead of a fairly immediate death sentence, and people in most parts of the world can openly speak about it with their doctors and we can talk about it in society. Reading about AIDS in our time is, for me, a profoundly hopeful experience, because we see that even though there is such a long way to go, essentially, the people who fought for recognition, for treatment, for government and societal attention to the epidemic...they won. And even beyond winning, they also paved the way for a host of social movements that stand on their shoulders. This book highlights that struggle and all the blood, sweat, and tears that got us from the early days of AIDS to where we are now, and I would dare you not to cry as the weight of it all settles with you as you read this book. ...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Mary Beth rated it it was amazing

How have I not read this before now?

Everyone I know needs to read this.

I read it well into last night.

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Feb 05, 2020 Rae rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: math-and-sciences, 2020

Epidemiology. Fear. Rock Hudson. Albert Camus. Thorough.

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Oct 07, 2008 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: recommended-books, nonfiction, favorites

A life changing book. Extremely well-written. Even accounting for some bias in the reporting, this is a stunning indictment of so many institutions that we implicitly trust. To think that we might have lived in a world without AIDS . . .

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