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And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic Paperback – October 4, 1988

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Randy Shilts (Author)
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Randy Shilts (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 245 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 672 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books; With a New Update on the Crisis edition (October 4, 1988)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 014011369X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140113693
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.3 x 8.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (245 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,040,969 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars"A horribly cruel and insidious virus"
By JLind555 on April 30, 2002
Format: Paperback
Randy Shilts masterpiece, "And The Band Played On", reads like a detective story; from the discovery of an unusual new organism that was killing a few people slowly and inexorably in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and multiplied exponentially underground until it exploded into the number one health catastrophe on the planet.

The fact that AIDS at first took its heaviest toll among gay men, and then among intravenous drug users, guaranteed that its early victims would become outcasts. The AIDS panic seems unbelievable in retrospect but was all too real in the 80s; people were forced off their jobs, children were barred from schools, and anyone who belonged to the "4-H club" (homosexuals, hard-drug users, hemophiliacs, and -- incredibly -- Haitians) were treated like pariahs. The secrecy and denial in dealing with the crisis helped it to spread unabated.

Shilts pulls no punches in writing this book. He is equally angry at the Reagan administration which preached pious platitudes while withholding desperately needed funds for medical research; the radical gay community which refused to acknowledge its own responsibility for the sexually promiscuous behavior that helped spread the disease like wildfire, and those in the medical community who played grandstanding politics and plain old-fashioned spite while patients were dying all around them. And then of course there was the media, which treated this puzzling, terrifying new disease -- which for two years after its discovery didn't even have a name -- as something the "general public" didn't have to be concerned about, until heterosexual men and women began to be infected.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThis Book Encouraged me to Ride My Bike 350 Miles
By A Customer on March 31, 2003
Format: Paperback
I read this book several years ago, and the effect of that reading is still making an impact on my life.
Randy Shilts blends science, sexuality, politics and humanity into a gripping and emotion-provoking story detailing the rise of the AIDS Epidemic. By drawing the readers into the lives of individuals and communities at the core of the epidemic, Shilts gives them the opportunity to see how the epidemic developed and spread, and the ways in which it was allowed to spread further, thru apathy, inaction, ignorance (both deliberate and not), fear, and even egotism.
When I listen to the news in today's world, and I hear accounts of the post-9/11 Anthrax scares, or the recent pneumonia illness that has now affected some 1,500 people -- my heart aches. Not to discount the reality of these illnesses, but all I can remember is how angered and saddened I felt as I read "And the Band Played On" and realized that hundreds of thousands of people were infected before the word AIDS was ever mentioned in the media. I was a sophmore in college when I first remember hearing about AIDS. That was in 1987. How many people had died from the disease before I even knew what it was????
I feel everyone should read this book. It doesn't just apply to people in high-risk populations. I happen to be a young heterosexual female, and this book made such an impression on me, that last summer, I found myself joining a 350-mile bike marathon to raise money and awareness for people living with HIV and AIDS. When people asked me why I was doing the ride, I told them about "And the Band Played On."
Randy Shilts' book is haunting and most of all, REAL. The only bad thing is that the book ends -- AIDS doesn't.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn outstanding work of journalism
By Trixie on April 27, 2004
Format: Paperback
I'm sure most people are familiar with the story but just as very brief background Randy Shilts was a reporter at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis when it first began. When his paper assigned him to cover the story on a regular basis (the only paper in the country to do so), he gained access to an vast wealth of material and a unique perspective-one that for many years went largely unreported by most of the media until the death of Rock Hudson changed everything. Shilts discovered he himself was HIV positive after he finished the book; he had asked his doctor not to reveal the test results to him until then. He passed way in 1994. His work to alert his own community on the coming health crisis often made him a pariah within it.
This is an amazing history of how the virus took off in America and an insight into why it remained so under-reported for so long. The story involves some very brave patients, some very irresponsible ones, incredibly dedicated medical professionals, major bungling by our government and the blood industry-some of it intentional and some paths paved with good intentions, and the mixed, frustrating reaction of the gay community itself. Shilts doesn't write completely without bias-he calls the decision of the CDC to release patient names to an NYC bloodbank "incredibly stupid" but who wouldn't agree with him on that point? Also, Shilt's fury at certain members of the Reagan administration and Reagan himself is palpable. Once again though, who wouldn't agree with him once the story has been unfolded. His anger is not limited just to the government nor is this just an anti-Republican screed-he praises Orrin Hatch and Everett Koop while bitterly recalling the inaction of Ed Koch's administration in New York. Gay leaders also are not always portrayed in a flattering light.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsStill Relevant 30 Years Later

"History will recall, Reagan did the least of all!"

This was the chant of protesters at Ronald Reagan's first speech on the AIDS crisis in 1987, and it... Read more

Published 2 days ago by Nick Nicholas, MSW
5.0 out of 5 starsI would reccommend this book

Not quite done with it but it is a very interesting read.

Published 5 days ago by Mary
5.0 out of 5 starsIf you want a book about the early history of ...

If you want a book about the early history of HIV/AIDS and it's devastating impact on the United States this is it! Well researched and written!

Published 6 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsReally well researched and interesting book.

I lived in San Francisco during the timing of this book. I thought I knew what was going on with the AIDS epidemic, but after reading this book, I really had no clue. Read more

Published 15 days ago by Emily07
5.0 out of 5 starsPUblic Health history never taught

This is a must read for young PH students and professionals. It is also a condemnation of bipartisan political bureaucracy and fundamental greed which helped propagate the worst... Read more

Published 16 days ago by Tracy L Middleton
5.0 out of 5 starsSHOCKING, INSIGHTFUL, AND SUPERIOR IN EVERY WAY AN INVESTIGATIVE...

Written in 1987 by respected investigative journalist Randy Shilts, AND THE BAND PLAYED ON is an incisive, poignant, often shocking account of the etiology of the AIDS virus. Read more

Published 17 days ago by The Literacy Advocate
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Very satisfied with the product.

Published 1 month ago by Terry
5.0 out of 5 starsA book for the ages.

All the poignancy, all the truth, all the heartbreak is here--read it and learn, weep, emote.

Published 1 month ago by J. Turk
5.0 out of 5 starsFIVE STARS

I had to remind myself that this book was about the very beginning of the AIDS virus when people did not understand or could even believe it was true. Read more

Published 2 months ago by Charles Robinson
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

One of the best books I have ever read. Period. Meticulous reporting.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer

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