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Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'
How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France
9 reviews
therat8's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Grief, and Outing
atlantisblauw's review against another edition
5.0
On the one hand, we've come a long way: things have definitely improved when it comes to prevention, treatment, human rights. (Although gay people still can't donate blood.). On the other hand it's kind of depressing that on a larger scale, we still value the lives of straight white rich people, specifically men, more than those of others. You can see that when you look at how we dealt with the Covid pandemic, both in that we managed to find a vaccine in eight months and that we focused on getting our own vaccine first, and even the second dose before the rest of the world got access to them.
I sometimes wonder what will happen with climate change, when mosquitos bring tropical diseases, or what if we have an Ebola outbreak? Will we then finally create vaccines and cures?
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
transtwill's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Grief
yourfavavery's review against another edition
5.0
This book is both sad, inspiring, infuriating, and hopeful. It outlines the beginning of the AIDS epidemic through to the pharmaceutical discoveries that made survival possible and the activism that led to those discoveries. It's devastating to understand the homophobia and bureaucratic nonsense these activists fought through to get drug treatments to market and how many died along the way, but it's hopeful because it also outlines the immense amount of work they did to break through red tape and get their humanity recognized. It was truly a feat of human determination and desperation, and should be required reading for anyone that's interested in community organizing or political movements.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, and Homophobia
flyingryndeer's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Police brutality
Minor: War
readingatthemuseum's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
lily1304's review against another edition
4.5
And the Band Played On was published in 1987, and author Randy Shilts unfortunately passed away of AIDS in 1994. How to Survive a Plague was published in 2016 and covers the epidemic through the sudden, groundbreaking discovery of the first long-term effective treatments in 1995. Shilts' work also contains some falsehoods - notably, the demonization of "Patient Zero" Gaetan Dugas - making me trust France's account more.
It's a long but essential read for LGBTQ history in the United States. It made me feel proud to be part of the community that invented safer-sex practices, taught themselves immunology and pharmaceutical study design, and came together as a community to support People With AIDS who were abandoned by their own families, doctors, and nurses. It also humbled me to see the ways that gay drama, infighting, and extremism hindered medical progress.
It's especially interesting to read about Anthony Fauci's role in drug research and his public perception at the time - given that he's now such a well-known figure in the COVID epidemic, popular along strict party lines. France in general does a good job of illustrating the challenges that researchers faced, under activist pressure to release new drugs quickly without long-term placebo trials. It is fascinating to read about the rise and fall of AZT (referenced in historical fiction like Rent and Pose) as an AIDS treatment - a drug that apparently helped a LOT short-term, but ultimately did nothing to extend PWAs' lives.
Mental illness and substance abuse are throughlines in the book, which begins and ends with the death of PWA activist Spencer Cox, who had apparently intentionally stopped taking his medications. France's epilogue is beautiful and sad, acknowledging the epidemic of substance abuse that began soon after the AIDS epidemic slowed - of course, both epidemics are still with us in 2021 and I'm sure many more books could be written about queer public health today.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Outing
junefish's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Outing, and Abandonment
Minor: Confinement, Suicide, and Pregnancy
cleo_wylde's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Medical content, and Grief