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(8 reviews)
Author: Visit Amazon's Jonathan Engel Page
ISBN : 0061144886
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Format: PDF
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Perceptive and concise, but also conversational and impeccably thorough, Engel chronicles humanity's relationship, from the first appearance of the new pathogen to the colossal struggles of today's third-world countries, with a virus that "has proven itself a formidable foe, evading vaccines and antidotes, while mocking our own imprudence, and self-indulgence." Covering the scientific, sexual, political, economic and educational ramifications of the AIDS crisis, Engel pulls no punches in describing large- and small-scale efforts to define, pursue, avoid and deny the virulent plague. After presenting the viral onslaught's first, overlooked victims, he tracks the disease's progression into and throughout the gay community and circles of intravenous drug-users, then into more mainstream populations. Touring bathhouses in New York, heroin-shooting galleries in Burma, and brothels in Bangkok and Zimbabwe, Engel describes how global centers of disease had to adapt-socially, civilly and medically-to face a dangerous new world paradigm. Moreover, this study explores evolving treatments, resources and the lack thereof throughout the world, and how the political, religious, and moral climates of any given culture influence the medical community's response. Looking forward, Engel demonstrates how the disease continues to challenge, and what societal changes are crucial to controlling viral progression. In his conclusion that AIDS "has exposed much of what is worst in human nature," Engel sums up the importance of his work, which reveals more than the history and character of a global crisis, but, in the world's response to such a crisis, the limitations and potential of humankind.
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About the Author
Jonathan Engel received his BA from Harvard, his MBA from the Yale School of Management, and his PhD in the history of medicine from Yale. He has served on White House medical advisory committees and various other health advisory boards. He is Associate Provost of Seton Hall University. Dr. Engel lives with his family in Millburn, New Jersey.
Books with free ebook downloads available Free Download The Epidemic: A Global History of AIDS Hardcover
- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Smithsonian; 1 edition (September 19, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0061144886
- ISBN-13: 978-0061144882
- Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 6.3 x 9.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Free Download The Epidemic: A Global History of AIDS
I read The Epidemic hoping to find new, useful information to use in updating my own 1999 AIDS history, Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America (University of Chicago Press). I have to admit I was skeptical that any book could capture the global breadth of the HIV pandemic, and The Epidemic proved my skepticism well-founded. Not only does it skim along the surface of important, even profound, events, but the book is written in language that leaves the impression the author has not learned anything from what the pandemic has taught about the vital importance of language. I was surprised to learn the author holds a PhD in the history of medicine from Yale.
Here is what I mean: Throughout the book the terms HIV and AIDS are used interchangeably; they are not interchangeable. As it has been used since HIV testing became available, in 1985, AIDS refers to the advanced stage of HIV disease (the preferred term for the spectrum of HIV-related infection and illness) at which the virus has seriously damaged the immune system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers a CD4 T-cell count below 200, a CD4 T-cell percentage below 14 percent, or the presence of an opportunistic infection in someone who has HIV to be what "defines" AIDS. A person cannot "catch" AIDS, though an HIV-positive person can progress to AIDS if his/her HIV infection is not managed with antiretroviral therapy. Throughout The Epidemic, the author refers to people "catching," being "infected with" or "spreading" AIDS. This is inaccurate, misleading and even a bit histrionic.
Other examples of poor language choice (and sloppy writing): "the gay community has been uniquely vulnerable to the virus.
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