Strong Shadows: Scenes From An Inner City AIDS Clinic [Paperback]

Abigail Zuger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1997

This work introduces the reader to the human beings behind the headlines and statistics of AIDS. It does not focus on the gay community but deals instead with the urban poor - heterosexual drug abusers and their families - telling the stories of eight patients with AIDS during the early 1980s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Zuger, who works in the infectious disease clinic at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, here tells the stories of eight of her HIV-positive and AIDS patients, ranging from the self-effacing man who would wait patiently for her for six hours and report that everything was going well (it wasn't) to the woman who used her illness to grab attention. Their conditions varied from fatal malignant lymphoma to an HIV-positive diagnosis that has not developed into AIDS in six years. Zuger's patients were almost all from the so-called underclass and had to cope with poverty at home while being treated in a system in which, in the 1980s, AIDS care was "primeval" and, in the '90s, "merely primitive." Five of these patients have died, and the author has lost touch with the others, but readers will feel admiration for her and others in the front lines of the battle against this scourge. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Zuger's sympathetic book does for the inner city what Abraham Verghese's My Own Country (LJ 4/1/94) did for rural America?reveal the devastating impact of AIDS on a community too often ignored by the media. The victims here are not white gay men but the urban poor struggling to cope with a fatal disease against a "background of misery and chaos" that few middle-class Americans can understand. Zuger, an infectious disease specialist, opens the medical and personal charts on eight patients she treated at a New York City AIDS clinic, vividly capturing their unique voices and personalities. Her format's only drawback is that the patients are viewed within the narrow confines of their visits; their outside lives are only lightly sketched. But perhaps that is not Zuger's purpose. Rather, Strong Shadows is a wake-up call for compassion at a time when Jesse Helms advocates cutbacks in AIDS funding because these "degenerates" brought their disease upon themselves.?Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716731002
• ISBN-13: 978-0716731009
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,642,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could change the country, September 26, 2001

By 

Awesomeguy (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What's Right for All Americans (Hardcover)

If Ezola's views were widely accepted by the population as a whole, America would be a much better place. Everything in her book makes perfect sense. If Mrs. Foster and Pat Buchannan had taken the White House, this country would be on the track to greatness. Alas though, that didnt happen. I have heard her being called a ridiculous name like "Aunt Tom." After reading her book one can tell she is extremely proud to be black and wants more than anything to help her community. It is very sad that people like Mrs. Foster dont get the respect or recognition they deserve. A GREAT BOOK BY AN AWESOME WOMAN!!!!!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, August 4, 2008

By 

T. Wells - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strong Shadows: Scenes from an Inner City AIDS Clinic (Hardcover)

I have to disagree with the previous reviewer. This is an excellent book that shows one side of the AIDS epidemic that isn't discussed as much. The epidemic of AIDS in the poor. Dr. Zuger has taken some of the patients she has cared for and written their stories from a medical and personal perspective. I don't think this book was intended to delve too deeply into the medical jargon, but is more to talk about her experiences with her patients on a more personal level.
An excellent read. A+

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Chewing rubber would fascinate me more!, October 16, 2006

By 

Nollywood Forever "I buy books like Imelda Ma... (Sal, Cape Verde) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strong Shadows: Scenes From An Inner City AIDS Clinic (Paperback)

I think that if you are thinking of buying this book think again. I was expecting narratives that would capture me. I was expecting to get to know each character...but that was not to be the case. It was a very matter of fact overview of each person's case. It did not do a good job into gving insight in each character neither did it do a good job in giving me any useful information on the medical side of HIV, therefore it was useful for absolutely... nothing.
I feel as though I cannot even articulate how disappointed I was by this book. I didn't even bother reading the last ten pages because it was not worth it. All the characters were similar, and all the stories were bland. thats all I can say...Dont waste your time or money!!!