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

by Randy Shilts

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312374631
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/27/2007
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised, 20th Anniversary Edition
Pages:	656
Sales rank:	68,776
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.90(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

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 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

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

“A heroic work of journalism.” —The New York Times

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