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And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, 20th-Anniversary Edition Kindle Edition

4.7 out of 5 stars 2,018

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Upon its first publication more than twenty years ago, And the Band Played on was quickly recognized as a masterpiece of investigative reporting.

An international bestseller, a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and made into a critically acclaimed movie, Shilts' expose revealed why AIDS was allowed to spread unchecked during the early 80's while the most trusted institutions ignored or denied the threat. One of the few true modern classics, it changed and framed how AIDS was discussed in the following years. Now republished in a special 20th Anniversary edition,
And the Band Played On remains one of the essential books of our time.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the first major book on AIDS, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts examines the making of an epidemic. Shilts researched and reported the book exhaustively, chronicling almost day-by-day the first five years of AIDS. 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 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. The AIDS pandemic is one of the most striking developments of the late 20th century and this is the definitive story of its beginnings.

From Publishers Weekly

"An exhaustive account of the early years of the AIDS crisis, this outlines the medical, social and political forces behind the epidemic's origin and rapid spread," reported PW . "The book stands as a definitive reminder of the shameful injustice inflicted on this nation by the institutions in which we put our trust . . . a landmark work." 200,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000V761ZA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Griffin; Revised edition (November 27, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 27, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1175 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 660 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 2,018

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Randy Shilts
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
2,018 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2012
I found this to be an amazing book, unfolding step-by-step as though it were a suspense story. Which, at the time, it certainly was. Journalist Randy Shilts wrote a well-researched, even-handed, and incredibly readable account of the science, politics, and personalities of the incipient (and then burgeoning) AIDS epidemic. The book begins in Africa in 1976 and concludes shortly after Rock Hudson's death from the disease in 1985 (which finally brought public attention to the issue). First referred to only as "the gay cancer," the disease had a few short mentions by the media as it appeared in the straight population (in hemophiliacs, blood transfusion patients, and newborns).

Throughout the book there's a palpable tension between the medical and political arenas as they grapple with (or attempt to ignore) the disease. Anyone who agitates to cut government spending by getting rid of or sharply reducing the powers of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) should be required to read this book. Although there are a number of heroes among the characters, the CDC--with its intelligence, tenacity, and compassion--heads the list. At the beginning, it seemed that a handful of CDC scientists were the only people who cared, and they were among the very few that sensed the illness was likely to become an epidemic. To essentially foresee the future--but to not be able to convince others of the reality--must have been nightmarish.

The story successfully blends a number of elements: competitive jealousies within the scientific community (it's likely that the French actually discovered the AIDS virus, despite a neck-in-neck US researcher who claimed the glory), the politics of the slow-moving National Institutes of Health (NIH), Reagan's stubborn refusal to address the AIDS issue (he finally did so six years after the epidemic began--and after 20,850 citizens had died), and a number of incredibly touching stories of people with the disease. One thing I hadn't known was the schism within the gay community: some people recognizing the reality of the threat while others (understandably) discounted it as internalized homophobia or as a homophobic attempt at sexual repression.

Ultimately--when all the medical and political wrangling is stripped away--the book is about people facing AIDS during a time when it was a horrible death sentence. In reading this account, one can't help but have compassion for all patients everywhere whose end of life includes ostracism, derision, and shaming. Yet, despite the dire circumstances, there was also love and compassion. Selfless nurses volunteered to work the AIDS unit, even when the disease was still somewhat of a mystery. The Shanti Project was a grassroots effort that cared for the sick and the dying by providing housing, medical care, friendship, and emotional support. This book captures a period in time where, in the midst of sometimes slow-moving science, second-class-citizen politics, and a seemingly indifferent larger society, some dedicated people struggled to raise awareness, to change habits, and others, to face death with equanimity.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2019
This is one of the best books I have ever read and yet it is one of the most disheartening. The government's response, described in all its glory, to the AIDS epidemic is nothing short of appalling. It shows that bureaucracy is a cancer, and it needs to be excised by putting in place individuals that are not afraid to saying out loud when things need to change. Most in position of power chose to cover their rears instead of doing what needed to be done. Sad, very sad,

The response of the blood banks to the mounting evidence that they were spreading the epidemic to innocent victims, was nothing short of criminal. That none of their officers or people responsible of maintaining a wait-an-see policy was ever indicted of negligent homicide is proof that if you have money, you can pay your way out of anything. Shame on the Red Cross, shame.

This book also shows that heroes are not always vindicated and rewarded when everything is said and done. The actions of the UC system against those that went outside "the proper channels" to get AIDS funding to fight this scourge, should have been exposed. The pettiness of the board of regents to push out and deny tenure to those that had helped spearhead the fight goes to show that in the most liberal state in the nation, there are plenty of recalcitrant idiots in power that need to be pushed out, else people will continue to suffer.

The book also shows that some in the gay community decided to ignore all the warning signs of impeding doom, and selfishly decided that continuing to live their lives as always, even after they had been diagnosed, shows the selfishness of many during this crisis. The bath owners, using their political clout, pushing to maintain the status quo knowing full well what they were doing was also nothing short of criminal.

Surprising was to see the response from New York city, its mayor, and the state governor, to the epidemic. They did absolutely nothing until things were out of control. Disgraceful.

Kudos to those in the gay community that fought even against their own to bring the epidemic out of the shadows and into the limelight. The sacrifices that many made to help those afflicted, providing economic and emotional support to those that were dying was very touching. This minority of members of the gay community, a few members of academia, a handful of government employees, and also a few in the medical field, whom fought tooth and nail to get funding and make everybody aware that AIDS was not a gay issue, but a human issue are the real heroes of the story.

The biggest takeaway from this book is that we are not ready for the next pandemic. We do not have a strategy to fight these diseases wherever they come from. It is not a matter of if but when, 'cause nature will strike again and if we act the same way that most did during the initial AIDS epidemic, this time around the number of victims may be in the hundreds of millions. I can only imagine the bickering between NIH, NCI, HHS, CDC and others as to who should get credit, or who should be fighting to save lives, while people die in droves, and all that while Congress sets up hearings to see who they can blame, so they can score political points.

Fantastic book, eye-opening, and sad, very sad.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Luqman Ahmed
5.0 out of 5 stars Good for younger gen
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2024
I was born in the late 80s, after the fiasco of the government not helping enough to control the massive rate at which cases were rising at the time.

This book gives background info on how money and politics fuelled that fiasco.
Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Ein hervorragendes Buch über die Anfänge der AIDS-Pandemie
Reviewed in Germany on March 7, 2022
Meine Erwartungen an "And the Band Played On" waren nach diversen Reviews, die ich vorab gelesen hatte, hoch. Und sie wurden nicht enttäuscht.

Randy Shirts schafft es, die Anfänge der AIDS-Epidemie beeindruckend zu schildern, einen Einblick in die gerade am Anfang besonders betroffene Gay Community zu gewähren und das Versagen der Politik zu entlarven. Das Buch ist nicht nur hervorragend recherchiert und zeichnet die Abläufe der Epidemie umfangreich nach. Da das Buch in unzählige kurze Abschnitte aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven gegliedert ist, nimmt man auch unmittelbar Anteil an den Schicksalen vieler früher Opfer der Epidemie. Eine klare Leseempfehlung.
Paolo Carboni
4.0 out of 5 stars Copertina un po' sgualcita
Reviewed in Italy on October 2, 2021
Consegna veloce di un libro poco noto in Italia e quindi di non facile reperibilità. Copertina un po' sgualcita, per questo non ho dato il massimo
Pablo
5.0 out of 5 stars Hay que leerlo
Reviewed in Spain on April 10, 2021
Super documentado y tremendo. El testimonio de una epidemia letal complicada por los entresijos de la política, las rivalidades científicas y el rechazo social. Imprescindible.
Takayav
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible
Reviewed in Canada on March 14, 2020
Simply put, this is a MASTERPIECE of journalism. Everyone should read this book. It is written with brutal honesty, and compassion. You will find yourself shaking your head in disbelief at the various US govt agencies lack of intelligence and guts, and applauding those who had the strength to continue the frustrating fight. AIDS is a HUMAN issue and we could be so much farther ahead if those in power had the brain cells to realize that fact.
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