I’m interested in reading about HIV and AIDS. Can anyone recommend me a good book on the subject? I’m looking for something comprehensive, non-fiction obviously, and for a reasonably intelligent layman. It should also be something written, or at least updated, in the past three or four years.
You should start with “And the Band Played On” by Randy Shilts. I don’t believe it’s been substantially updated recently, but it gives an extremely thorough account of the discovery, research, lack of research and hysteria surrounding the disease in its’ first five years (1980 - 85). While some of the claims about specific people are debated (“patient zero” for example), it gives solid info on the disease itself.
Updated with a foreward, or what? Shilts died in the late 90s, IIRC.
If you’re okay with a personal account, a MUST read is Paul Monette’s Borrowed Time,, which was, I believe the first “first person” narrative account of the crisis, published in 1987.
Also, get some of Larry Kramer’s stuff, if you want to understand what was going on in the gay community in the early 80s-mid 90s.
I read …And the Band Played On. I’m not actually interested in the history of AIDS, or its prevention, or what it’s like to have it. I just want factual information on the disease. Anyone?
I don’t know how technical you want to get, but you might want to check out Project Inform. They have an archive of their newsletter, P.I. Perspective, which you can also subscribe to via email.
This is a terrific site. It is not a book, though. I was really looking for something I could take to bed, or to the can.