Virus Hunting: Aids, Cancer, & The Human Retrovirus: A Story Of Scientific Discovery

This book by the scientist whose name is synonymous with the identification of the AIDS virus takes the reader through his interpretation of the events leading up to his announcement in 1984 that his lab had discovered the cause of AIDS. Gallo, who has been stung by charges of unethical behavior (including a National Institute of Health inquiry), goes to great lengths to respond to every criticism made about him and strongly defends his role in the legal and ethical disputes that he sees as caused by outside meddling, inside rivalries, the politics of hysteria, and, most prominently, mendacious journalists. The book is vintage Gallo: he knows who he thinks is right, and says so, and thus will add more heat, but little light, to the controversy. Collections whose patrons have an interest in the social and political aspects of AIDS should expect heavy demand as Gallo is a light ning rod for much acclaim--and criticism. See also Dominique Lapierre's Beyond Love and Robert M. Wachter's The Fragile Coalition: Scientists, Activists, and AIDS, reviewed below.-- Ed.
- Mark L. Shelton, Athens, Ohio
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.