And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic / Edition 1

by Randy Shilts, William Greider

Overview

By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously? In answering these questions, Shilts weaves weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments.

Shilts shows that the epidemic spread wildly because the federal government put budget ahead of the nation's welfare; health authorities placed political expediency before the public health; and scientists were often more concerned with international prestige than saving lives. Against this backdrop, Shilts tells the heroic stories of individuals in science and politics, public health and the gay community, who struggled to alert the nation to the enormity of the danger it faced. And the Band Played On is both a tribute to these heroic people and a stinging indictment of the institutions that failed the nation so badly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312241353
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	01/28/1988
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	656
Product dimensions:	5.46(w) x 8.21(h) x 1.72(d)

About the Author

Randy Shilts was born in 1951, in Davenport, Iowa. One of the first openly gay journalists hired at a major newspaper, he worked for the San Francisco Chronicle for thirteen years. He died of AIDS in 1994 at his home in the Sonoma County redwoods in California. He was the author of The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk (1982), And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic (1987), and Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military (1993). He also wrote extensively for many major newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Esquire, The Los Angeles Times, and The Advocate. And the Band Played On was made into a docudrama that was broadcast on HBO in 1993.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Dramatis Personae

The Bureaucracy

Prologue

Part I. Behold, A Pale Horse

1. The Feast of the Hearts

Part II. Before/1980

2. Glory Days

3. Beaches of the Dispossessed

4. Foreshadowing

5. Freeze Frames

Part III. Paving the Road/1981

6. Critical Mass

7. Good Intentions

8. The Prettiest One

9. Ambush Poppers

10. Golf Courses of Science

11. Bad Moon Rising

Part IV. The Gathering Darkness/1982

12. Enemy Time

13. Patient Zero

14. Bicentennial Memories

15. Nightsweats

16. Too Much Blood

17. Entropy

18. Running on Empty

19. Forced Feeding

20. Dirty Secrets

21. Dancing in the Dark

Part V. Battle Lines/January-June 1983

22. Let It Bleed

23. Midnight Confessions

24. Denial

25. Anger

26. The Big Enchilada

27. Turning Points

28. Only the Good

29. Priorities

30. Meanwhile

31. AIDSpeak Spoken Here

32. Star Quality

Part VI. Rituals/July-December 1983

33. Marathons

34. Just Another Day

35. Politics

36. Science

37. Public Health

38. Journalism

39. People

Part VII. Lights & Tunnels/1984

40. Prisoners

41. Bargaining

42. The Feast of the Hearts, Part II

43. Squeeze Play

44. Traitors

45. Political Science

46. Downbound Train

47. Republicans and Democrats

48. Embarrassed

49. Depression

50. The War

Part VIII. The Butcher's Bill/1985

51. Heterosexuals

52. Exiles

53 Reckoning

54. Exposed

55. Awakening

56. Acceptance

57. Endgame

Part IX. Epilogue/After

58. Reunion

59. The Feast of the Hearts, Part III

Notes on Sources

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A heroic work of journalism on what must rank as one of the foremost catastrophes of modern history."—The New York Times

"Stunning . . . An impressively researched and richly detailed narrative."—Time

"Rivals in power and intensity, and in the brilliance of its reporting and writing, Truman Capote's In Cold Blood."—The Boston Globe

"A monumental history."—The Washington Post Book World

"The most thorough, comprehensive exploration of the AIDS epidemic to date . . . It is fascinating, frightening, and essential reading."—San Francisco Sentinel

"A textbook on how institutions work—or fail to work—in the face of such a threat."—San Francisco Examiner

"A lucid and stunning indictment of public policy toward the vicious disease . . . A valuable work of political history."—Business Week

"Shilts successfully weaves comprehensive investigative reporting and commercial page-turning pacing, political intrigue, and personal tragedy into a landmark book . . . Its importance cannot be overstated."—Publishers Weekly

"A popular history of the early years of the AIDS crisis, the book conveys in detail the political complexities—and many different human dimensions—of the story. Reading Shilts, you wonder who will die next. You worry whether this terrible disease can ever be controlled. And you begin to feel anger at what Shilts portrays as the federal government's dithering . . . Shilts has produced the best—and what will likely be the most controversial—book yet on AIDS. Though many of the details in the book are familiar to veteran reporters, Shilts does not shy away from naming names and casting blame. He writes with passionate conviction, which is one of the book's strengths—and also, of course, a sound reason for some skepticism."—Jim Miller, Newsweek

"Shilts, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle who has covered AIDS full-time since 1983, takes us almost day by day through the first five years of the unfolding epidemic and the responses—confusion and fear, denial and lindifference, courage and determination. It is at once a history and a passionate indictment."—H. Jack Geiger, The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

SOC SCI This shocking and illuminating account by the best-selling author of Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military (Audio Reviews, LJ 8/93) remains one of the most important books of the last two decades. Beginning with the alleged ``pa tient zero''--a French Canadian flight at tendant whose coast-to-coast liaisons were pivotal in spreading the AIDS virus throughout the United States--Shilts documents the epidemic's first onslaught, as well as the attendant reactions (or nonreactions) by the media, national health organizations, mainstream America, and the gay community. Although the audiobook was originally released in 1988, a recent HBO original movie based on the book and the success of Conduct Unbecoming should revive interest in it. Actor Willem Dafoe narrates with calm assurance, and Shilts reads a new afterword in which he points out that the band continues to play. Until an unabridged version is available, all libraries should have a copy of this seminal work.-- Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal''

Library Journal