Reviews
Anyone interested in science, social history, communicable diseases or epidemiology would benefit from reading this topical, fascinating and inspirational book.
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in HIV epidemiology, especially if they are keen to contribute to the broad-based scientific progress and the well-being of the population they are attempting to benefit.
Where were you in 1981? When did you first learn of AIDS? For many of us involved in public health, healthcare, or research, the answer to those questions marks a personal and professional turning point. This book captures the life-changing experiences from dozens of those who were and remain deeply committed to battling the global HIV pandemic. Wendee Wechsberg has been there from the start, and here she has expertly captured the varied, compelling, and historically significant stories of many HIV pioneers.
HIV Pioneers provides a critical, multifaceted perspective on many of the ways that the epidemic challenged so many parts of our society. The responses to the epidemic recorded here tell an important story that will be invaluable as we confront future threats. A moving and essential addition to the history of our efforts in confronting the epidemic.
A unique and engaging magnum opus, based on numerous first-hand accounts of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. Wechsberg has assembled many of the key players to create a verbal AIDS quilt, a tapestry rich in poignancy, wisdom, sadness, and hope.
This quietly powerful book provides an intimate, nuanced, and historical memoir of the early challenges of the HIV pandemic through the stories and personal experiences of front-line clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and people living with HIV. Their voices remain timely and relevant in confronting our current dangerous era of denial and despair.
Book Details
Foreword, by James W. Curran
Introduction
Patients, Physicians, and Hospitals
The Healer, Dr. Beny Primm: Uncommon Man for Uncommon Times
"That AZT Kills Patients": Learning from Lamar—A 25-Year-Long
Foreword, by James W. Curran
Introduction
Patients, Physicians, and Hospitals
The Healer, Dr. Beny Primm: Uncommon Man for Uncommon Times
"That AZT Kills Patients": Learning from Lamar—A 25-Year-Long Patient-Doctor Relationship
Unmoored
Yet Another Stigma: HIV Strikes People with Severe Mental Illness
AIDS Case Management: A Community Response
Women and Pioneering Women
Cherchez la Femme: Yes, the French Woman Did It. She Discovered the AIDS Virus.
The Needlestick Accident That Launched Healthcare Worker Safety: A Nurse's HIV Journey
HIV Takes Center Stage
"Don't Die of Ignorance": A Scramble for Knowledge
Methadone Treatment, Jessie Helms, and Reaching Women Who Use Drugs
South Africa's Response to AIDS and Preventing HIV in Young Women
Survivors
Finding the Black Church in the Fight to End AIDS: My Story
Finding My Calling in Hell: My Journey Through the Early Years of AIDS
What Did You Learn, Dorothy?
Once a Garden, Now a Wildflower
Personal Turning Points
Baltimore's HERO
But You're Not Part of Our Community
The Accidental Ethnographer
People Who Use Drugs
GRID: Gay-Related Immune Deficiency
Stories and Lessons Learned Surrounding People Who Inject Drugs: The Early Days of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Encounter With the Dark Side
Junkiebonden and Users' Groups: Learning About the Collective Organization of People Who Use Drugs
Social and Behavioral Science
We're From the Government and We're Here to Help You
First AIDS Grant, First Interviews with AIDS Patients, First Syringe Exchange Politics, First Syringe Research
The Development, Testing, and Implementation of an Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model for the Prediction and Promotion of HIV/AIDS Preventive Behavior
Out of Suffering: New Directions in AIDS Behavioral Prevention Research From a Personal Perspective
From the Many One: A Collaborative Approach
Historical Perspectives
The Beginning of Science in the HIV Epidemic: Eureka Moments
"Slim Disease": A New Health Scare in Uganda
Afterword
Contributors
Index
Index