Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts
2 reviews
znvisser's review against another edition
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.75
This has been on my to-read for a while and oof, I am impressed. This is such an amazing work of investigative journalism, especially considering how close to all events this has been written. Shilts manages to incorporate many causes, perspectives and subcultures that collided into this big mess of handling this horrible epidemic: politics, capitalism, academia and its publishing, healthcare and its funding, (fear of) homophobia, media functioning… the unfolding of this epidemic is such a heartbreaking piece of history and this story outlines in much detail how it all went so terribly wrong, including many key characters and organizations. Even with the subject matter aside however, it isn’t an easy read: it’s long and slow paced due to the many events covered, and during the audio I sometimes had trouble keeping all organisations and individuals apart; but it’s a journey that provides many impactful insights nonetheless. Every organisation, sector and government should keep learning their lessons from this so nothing like this can ever happen again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
sakisreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
3.0
A hard hitting, harrowing read. This is probably the book that took me the longest to read this year, as there are so many names and perspectives to contend with. It was astonishing that the administration and media didn’t cover the AIDS epidemic from the get go, and Shilts doesn’t hold back on his criticism of that. However, his portrayal of Gaetan Dugas (dubbed ‘Patient Zero’) felt aggressive and it felt unfair that Dugas could not say anything back, as he passed away in 1984.
Overall, this was a good but quite dated look into the AIDS epidemic. I think I would like to find a more sensitive perspective into this topic 😳
Overall, this was a good but quite dated look into the AIDS epidemic. I think I would like to find a more sensitive perspective into this topic 😳
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent