- Mass Market Paperback: 672 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (Mar 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 014011369X
- ISBN-13: 978-0140113693
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
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- #6 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Health Issues > Illnesses & Conditions > AIDS
- #14 in Books > Science & Nature > Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Infectious & Contagious Diseases > HIV-AIDS
- #21 in Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Medical & Healthcare Practitioners > Internal Medicine > Diseases & Disorders > Infectious & Contagious Diseases > HIV - AIDS
And the Band Played On
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Product Description
Review
"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 landma --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"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 landma --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Why was AIDS allowed to spread unchecked during the early 1980s while our most trusted institutions ignored or denied the threat? In this expose of one of the most important issues of our time, the author answers this question - revealing how the federal government put its budgetary concerns ahead of the nation's welfare, how health authorities placed political expediency before public health, and how some scientists valued national prestige more than saving lives.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"And The Band Played On" is a book I missed when it first came out over twenty years ago. I read Randy Shilts "The Mayor of Castro Street" after having become intrigued by the life of "Harvey Milk" since seeing the excellent Sean Penn film "Milk" at the beginning of the year, and I was anxious to read anything else that he had written.
"And The Band Played On," is a reference to the musicians on the Titanic, who reputedly kept playing as the ship sank.
The book details how this was exactly the way the authorities behaved while people in their thousands were dying from AIDS.
This new disease, which in its early stages, was unknown to science, devastated the lives of not just the sufferers, but also of those that loved them.
As it was mostly gay men, and intravenous drug users who were affected,(not REAL people, not people who mattered), little money was found for research, and the scientists involved had to make do and mend, in the most outrageous way.
The whole subject was considered embarrasing, one not to be talked about, and still people were dying. Some members of the gay community were reluctant to face up to the fact that their behavior in "bath houses," the taking of multiple sexual partners, had anything to do with the spread of the disease, and saw any restrictions placed upon them as a breach of their human rights.
Still people were dying.
Then the scientists started to play politics with the research, the French at the Pasteur Institute who discovered the virus, were disbelieved until Dr Robert Gallo could confirm their work in the US.
A year was wasted, and still people were dying.
The virus contaminated the blood supply.
Still there was denial.
Haemophiliacs were dying, patients were contracting AIDS from operative transfusions.
Still the wrangling went on.
For money, for kudos, for sexual freedom, for the hope of a Nobel Prize.
And all the while, people died.
Now, particularly in Africa, people are dying in their millions, this particular genie can never be put back into the bottle.
The band played on.................
"And The Band Played On," is a reference to the musicians on the Titanic, who reputedly kept playing as the ship sank.
The book details how this was exactly the way the authorities behaved while people in their thousands were dying from AIDS.
This new disease, which in its early stages, was unknown to science, devastated the lives of not just the sufferers, but also of those that loved them.
As it was mostly gay men, and intravenous drug users who were affected,(not REAL people, not people who mattered), little money was found for research, and the scientists involved had to make do and mend, in the most outrageous way.
The whole subject was considered embarrasing, one not to be talked about, and still people were dying. Some members of the gay community were reluctant to face up to the fact that their behavior in "bath houses," the taking of multiple sexual partners, had anything to do with the spread of the disease, and saw any restrictions placed upon them as a breach of their human rights.
Still people were dying.
Then the scientists started to play politics with the research, the French at the Pasteur Institute who discovered the virus, were disbelieved until Dr Robert Gallo could confirm their work in the US.
A year was wasted, and still people were dying.
The virus contaminated the blood supply.
Still there was denial.
Haemophiliacs were dying, patients were contracting AIDS from operative transfusions.
Still the wrangling went on.
For money, for kudos, for sexual freedom, for the hope of a Nobel Prize.
And all the while, people died.
Now, particularly in Africa, people are dying in their millions, this particular genie can never be put back into the bottle.
The band played on.................
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book as it was recommended as a useful insight into the history of the AIDS epidemic and it's links to the gay community. It, however, is much more. As a nurse I have an obvious interest in the health aspect but politically and socially this is possibly one of the most important books written on a global epidemic. Randy Shilts uses all his journalistic nouse to conjur a piece by piece account which held me from the first page to the last and offers an insight into a piece of our history which should not have been allowed to happen
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I enjoyed Shilt's book much more than I did the film. Although he can be criticised by professional historians from many angles, he does approach the issue of disease and American society from a perspective too long absent in medical history works. Shilts attempts to bring the patient into the history of AIDS continually. In fact, the best passages in the book are about the poeple who lived outside of the medical and political spotlights. Hollywood may have missed the point, but you can still read the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
a must for HIV doctors with an interest in history
Inteersting impression on the history of HIV in Europe and the United States, and all the political issues around dealing with this epidemic, almost unbelievable from today's point... Read more
Published 13 months ago by christine
And The Band Played On A Gripping and insightful book
After seeing the DVD of the film and throughly enjoying it. I wanted to read the book,it is a lot better than the film. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Daniel Hefferland
Thorough
This is a really thorough book. Charts the rise of AIDS with immaculate attention to detail and extensive research. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2006 by Nbk
Essential
The beauty of this book is that you feel like you're there, living through one of the most significant periods of recent history. Read more
Published on 29 Feb 2004 by Kasper Simon
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