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

 

 

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What do we usually think of when the word AIDS is mentioned? What is the first impression we get of someone who talks about it? Even though AIDS ranks as one of the most devastating epidemics of the century, probably even our history (since we still haven't seen the extent of its spread), it is still a topic we tend to shy away from. Why? "And The Band Played On" recounts the development of this ruthless disease since it first began and it is when we see HOW it was dealt with that we start understanding WHY today we still hesitate to talk about it openly.
Mr. Shilts correctly begins by explaining to us the situation under which the virus made its appearance and we can't help but notice how appropriate the time was. He begins in the late 1970's, in the United States' bicentenial celebration of its Independence and almost profetically places some five gay doctors in the scene wondering how hard a sexually-transmitted disease would strike the gay community if it were to appear in those days.
Thus begins the book.
We start learning how the majority of the gay community in the United States, and all over the world, behaved and we see that sex was a very important part of their lives. We are introduced to some people and the story begins to take life when some of them start falling sick to a strange number of diseases that ravaged them, diseases that the body can normally fend off.
Then Dr. Gottlieb together with some other doctors, among them Donald Francis, Mary Guinan, Dan Williams, Arie Rubinstein and others, begin to receive an incredible number of patients who seem to be stricken by the same illness, but none of them know what they're dealing with. They notice abnormalities in their inmune systems but can't seem to find a cause for it. They try different treatments and none of them work... Meanwhile, most of the patients die and the doctors find themselves unable to do anything about it.
Anyway, after a long time and lengthy discussions, they discover that the illness is caused by a virus, one they are still unable to see. When they hit upon that, they start doing more research and come up with some surprises. For example, it was thought that since the virus usually hit young gay men, it had a predisposition to attack that group. Of course, not all of them agreed on it. The French working with the virus in the Pasteur Institute in Paris thought that to be preposterous and continued their search for the virus. One of the reasons for their disbelief is that most of the cases that they had came from Africa and women were also infected with it, while in the United States it wasn't so.
However, an epidemic among the Haitians in New York breaks out and, together with the incresing number of sick hemophiliacs, the Gay Plague or Cancer started to appear less and less Gay!
Transfussion cases are then considered and they start to investigate, but are met with serious resistance on behalf of the government and the public institutions.
The truth is that throughout the epidemic, there were doctors who wanted to beat the disease and thought they had a chance to do it, but they were either discouraged by other scientists or lacked funding to experiment. The whole AIDS story is about how the people who cared fought against those who did nothing and decided to just let things go on. When doctors and scientists around the world were supposed to be united into the struggle to beat the disease, a race began among them to discover the virus first and win Nobel Prizes. When men and women all across America and the world were dying a horrible death, government officials were reluctant to even say the word AIDS in public, as was the case with Reagan. It is known that when he made his first speech regarding the AIDS epidemic, hundreds of thousands of people had been infected with it.
The story of the AIDS epidemic is the story, as Mr. Shilts states in his book, of how institutions work, or fail to work in the threat of an epidemic.
The story of the AIDS virus is a sad one, filled with the sorrow and despair of people who wanted to do something and couldn't. People who lived in a country that had the means to beat this epidemic before it reached the proportions it did and yet lacked the necessary resources and support.
As I was reading the book, I couldn't help but feel angry and desperate. How could this happen? How could this happen in this world, in this century? Why wasn't it given the attention it deserved right from the start? Well, I believe that the answer to that is very hard to find, and if it isn't, I find it hard to say because I'd have to say that humanity had lost its feelings and put budget problems ahead of the people's well-being. That it valued a Nobel Prize more than saving lives and that it cared less for the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people, who did nothing wrong, than for their their reputations and credibility.
The true story of the AIDS epidemic reflects how deep our prejudices run in our society and how cold and absolutely inhuman people can become. It is a story of ignorance and shame and also of great "heroism", if one can call it that. We shouldn't forget those who, faced with imminent death, decided to make a stand and fight for their cause.It should be noted that even though all of the people infected with the virus did something to help others, there are always a few who stand out and the book tells the story of this terrible epidemic through the lives of some of these characters. That's what makes it so good! It talks about humanity in a way that, even though it's talking about something as terrible as this, the human issue of the epidemic is present at all times.
I believe "And The Band Played On" to be an exceptional book. I hope that people get a chance to read it and ultimately reflect on their lives. I hope that when they see this side of the AIDS epidemic, they'll feel compelled to do something and become better people, so that what happened with AIDS shall NEVER happen again. EVER!

Reviewed by : David Sarshalom (age 16

I've recently re-read Shilt's outstanding work on this crises and of course, I reflected heavily that this book flourished after the author's demise some ten years ago. It is so powerful and important to remember this book and to keep it alive. Another I recommend is the moving: "God Doesn't Make Trash", by fellow San Francisco author, Barbara Rose Brooker. Good read.

I'm sure most people are familiar with the story but just as very brief background Randy Shilts was a reporter at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis when it first began. When his paper assigned him to cover the story on a regular basis (the only paper in the country to do so), he gained access to an vast wealth of material and a unique perspective-one that for many years went largely unreported by most of the media until the death of Rock Hudson changed everything. Shilts discovered he himself was HIV positive after he finished the book; he had asked his doctor not to reveal the test results to him until then. He passed way in 1994. His work to alert his own community on the coming health crisis often made him a pariah within it.

This is an amazing history of how the virus took off in America and an insight into why it remained so under-reported for so long. The story involves some very brave patients, some very irresponsible ones, incredibly dedicated medical professionals, major bungling by our government and the blood industry-some of it intentional and some paths paved with good intentions, and the mixed, frustrating reaction of the gay community itself. Shilts doesn't write completely without bias-he calls the decision of the CDC to release patient names to an NYC bloodbank "incredibly stupid" but who wouldn't agree with him on that point? Also, Shilt's fury at certain members of the Reagan administration and Reagan himself is palpable. Once again though, who wouldn't agree with him once the story has been unfolded. His anger is not limited just to the government nor is this just an anti-Republican screed-he praises Orrin Hatch and Everett Koop while bitterly recalling the inaction of Ed Koch's administration in New York. Gay leaders also are not always portrayed in a flattering light. For all of that though, Shilts struggles to be fair and largely is successful.

This book may look daunting, both because of it's subject matter and it's length (clocking in around 600 pages.) However it is incredibly worth your time and written so well that you'll make surprisingly short work of it. Even if you aren't interested in AIDS per se, the story of how our government responded to this crisis (or, rather, largely failed to) should and will frighten you. An incredible call to action and snapshot of a moment in time and place that might otherwise have been forgotten. And that would be a tragedy.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Extremely biased political agenda spoils the book
This is an engrossing narrative, which unfortunately is completely undermined by the author's shrill political carping. Read more

Published on Jun 21 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Took a while, but a stellar read!!
And the Band Played On was a great book, but surely not of the category for "books that you love". Chapter to chapter, page to page, it carried sadness after sadness, tragedy... Read more

Published on April 2 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Helping ourselves to death
Shilts writes like a dying man with nothing to lose, which is refreshing. There is so much fakery about this disease. Read more

Published on Mar 2 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A Powerful, Important, Book
Some books should be read to be enjoyed. Others are educational, teaching us valuble lessons in life. Read more

Published on Dec 26 2003 by andrewjack

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional whiplash
This book is absolutely heart-rending. The emotions one experiences reading through this documentation of the first responses to the AIDS virus are numerous, and as different as... Read more

Published on Oct 16 2003 by Grete Brewerbakken

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Encouraged me to Ride My Bike 350 Miles
I read this book several years ago, and the effect of that reading is still making an impact on my life. Read more

Published on Mar 31 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars A Realistically Scary View of the Evolution of AIDS
After studying media surrounding AIDS and its evolution as an epedemic of the 1980's-1990's, "And the Band Played On" comes closest to the reality of AIDS and the politics of... Read more

Published on Mar 10 2003 by D. Alepin

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfully written history lesson
To me, this is one of the best books of non-fiction ever written. Most people who would read this will be haunted by the dates of the emerging HIV/AIDS epidemic, remembering where... Read more

Published on Mar 9 2003 by MDMike

5.0 out of 5 stars Shilts was there and he wrote about it as a true reporter
Randy Shilts could have taken the easy way out. He could have blamed Reagan (he did not, no matter what the reviews said) he could have blamed the CDC (he did not, though he took... Read more

Published on Feb 22 2003 by person

5.0 out of 5 stars The true story of the AIDS epidemic
If you're seeking a history of AIDS and how it became a worldwide plague, written in exhaustive detail as a chronology on a almost day-by-day basis, look no further than And The... Read more

Published on Feb 10 2003 by onlyInSF

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