And the Band Played on - Softcover

Randy Shilts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140111301 ISBN 13: 9780140111309

Publisher: (London), Penguin, (1988). Rep, 1988

Synopsis

Randy Shilts answers these questions in a masterpiece of investigative reporting - a brilliant expose of the federal government putting budget ahead of the nation's welfare, health authorities placing political expediency before public health, and scientists more concerned with international prestige than with saving lives. On rare occasions a book comes along that not only reports on an important issue of the times, but also becomes the foundation for all the ongoing debate on the subject. And the Band Played On has had that kind of impact on shaping America's response to the AIDS epidemic. The story told here forces us to rethink many of our common assumptions about how the society we live in works and doesn't work. Now, with a new chapter on the most recent developments in the battle against AIDS, And the Band Played On continues its pre-eminent role in changing public opinion and lives.

About this title

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.

About the Author

RANDY SHILTS was one of the first journalists to recognize AIDS as an important national issue and, in the early 1980s, he began to report on AIDS full time for the San Francisco Chronicle, making him the only journalist to do so. He was also the author of The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk and Conduct Unbecoming: Gay and Lesbians in the U.S. Military. Shilts died of AIDS-related complications in early 1994.

Edition details

• Publisher: (London), Penguin, (1988). Rep
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0140111301
• ISBN 13: 9780140111309
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 656