Mortal Men : Living With Asymptomatic HIV [Hardcover]

Richard Mac Intyre (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0813525969 | ISBN-13: 978-0813525969 | Edition: 1

Narrative non-fiction. A novel-like collection of compelling conversations between an HIV-positive nurse and other gay men with asymptomatic HIV. This book transports the reader into an urban world where gay men negotiated their sexuality, mortality, and health care between the decades of heady liberation and AIDS. See "inside flap" below.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

People who have lived for many years with HIV but without symptoms must fight a virus they cannot see and a disease they cannot feel. Not only does this struggle color decisions about medical treatment, it also affects communities and personal identities.

Concerned about several men who knew they were HIV positive but who elected not to monitor their T-cells, MacIntyre focused his investigation on the ways in which HIV-positive gay men in his own community interpreted their diagnoses and made treatment decisions. The result is a partly autobiographical (MacIntyre tested positive for HIV in 1985 and is as yet asymptomatic) and beautifully written collection of conversations between the author and several articulate, well-educated HIV-positive gay men. Mortal Men uncovers contrasting beliefs on health, illness, and medicine and raises psychological and sociocultural issues that influence medical and lifestyle decisions.

The stories in Mortal Men show how several asymptomatic HIV-positive gay men in the early 1990s experienced the ministrations of their doctors and the pronouncements of the press; how these men either took up or resisted the ways in which their friends and community understood the disease and its treatments; how relationships to the health care system-ranging from complete trust to fragile trust to overt distrust or fear-affected treatment decisions. MacIntyre's chronicle preserves the humanity of his subjects and the insights that they developed in response to death. By showing how people construct new meanings for life in the face of death (and the technologies engineered to prevent it), Mortal Men offers new discernment and possibilities for people coping with serious illnesses.

MacIntyre notes that standard interpretations of viral loads have nearly made the concept of a healthy HIV-positive person an oxymoron, despite the fact that many HIV-positive people have been living healthy lives for more than a decade without pharmaceutical intervention. But this book is not so much about the pros and cons of various treatments as it is about how a group of gay men confronted and lived with HIV and the options available to them in the early 1990s.

From the Back Cover

Gay Studies/HIV Studies/ Nursing

"Offers a profound, compassionate, and stunningly honest vision . . . an unforgettable chronicle of the struggles and triumphs of living with HIV." -Patricia Benner, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N.

"A brave account . . . MacIntyre takes us into his world. He tells us what it is to live being gay, to live with HIV, and to care for dying friends. . . . An extremely powerful book . . . a classic." -Janice M. Morse, Ph.D., F.A.A.N., director, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology

"Mortal Men illustrates how deep personal and communal crisis may elicit the most profound observation. . . .We as readers are never allowed to forget that courage and compassion, ruth and renewal are the price and gift of survival-that survival in the context of loss may lead to a unique and even eloquent reengagement of the self."-From the Foreword by Stephen Lacey.

Jacket illustration: Frantisek Kupka, Prometheus Blue and Red, 1909-1910, watercolor on paper, 12 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches. Courtesy National Gallery, Prague.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; 1 edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813525969
• ISBN-13: 978-0813525969
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,137,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, provocative, and beautifully written!, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mortal Men : Living With Asymptomatic HIV (Hardcover)

MacIntrye shares poignant stories of love and loss and reminds us that we all need "someone to stand witness to our lives". His message is powerful because of his conviction in "the power of an n of one". He reminds us that our individuality is our most precious gift. MacIntyre may shock you with his occasionally brutally frank accounts of the gay life and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70s and 80s. As a nurse and an educator, I am continually reminded of my responsibility to honor the patient's right to choose and my responsibility to assist patients to make informed choices. MacIntyre never allows us to lose sight of those important responsibilities.