This book has been around for a while, but it reads almost like a murder mystery or a thriller. It chronicles the beginning of the AIDS crisis, including the CDC rushing to contain the devastation. ( )

Shilts' contemporary account of the advent of what is now HIV/AIDS is truly a classic. Shilts takes an unbiased, journalistic approach to the science surrounding the discovery of the "GRID" complex, the underlying virus, the epidemiology required to figure out how the disease was spread as well as the international politics limiting the closing of the bathhouses, treatment, testing of the blood supply and delaying the correct taxonomy of HIV.

Interspersed with this, Shilts shows the ready a very personal view of the stories of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and their personal struggles both as patients and as advocates. These interspersed narratives are touching and strong, and completely unfictionalized.

Although it would be easy for these one of the many different components of the narrative to become overwhelmed by the vastness and intricacy of the story that Shilts is telling, he handles each of these components deftly, making the 600 page book a manageable and entertaining read.

Although And the Band Played On is now over 20 years old, it was the first comprehensive account of the advent of HIV/AIDS, it was an instant classic in its time and its contemporary nature lends an honesty to the homophobia, politicking and counter-productive maneuvering on all sides that would likely be glossed over in a modern telling. ( )

Someone tries to do something to fight the spread of AIDS, and everyone else tries to thwart that person. Repeat for 605 pages. One of the most emotionally brutal books I've ever read. ( )

I didn't finish this. Reads like bad journalism. The story is, of course, tragic, but the various accounts ring false like the stories that actors tell. For example, we find: "On a hunch, Gottlieb twisted some arms to convince pathologists to take a small scraping of the patient's lung tissue through a nonsurgical maneuver." OK, so the author isn't a doctor, but 1. pathologists don't do endobronchial biopsies, pulmonologists do, 2.nobody has to twist a pulmonologists arm to do an endobronchial biopsy or for a pathologist to interpret one, 3.I was around when AIDS showed up and we were fascinated by it and were eager to get that material, 4.Since this little sentence has things in it that I know are false, what is the author saying with it - is he building a case? Many other stories ring false and have doubtless been spun somehow, after all this book has a message and the author is the man with a hammer. I am reminded of the oft noticed phenomenon that when you have personal knowledge of a newspaper story, you are startled by its errors (for example, if you were the one interviewed), and then realize that the stories that you know nothing about are probably similarly inaccurate. The story of AIDS deserves better than this. ( )

A fascinating book that would have benefitted from tighter editing. Shilts tracks the AIDS epidemic in the US from inception through about 1987 in very fine detail. The research behind this book is incredible. It's all there - - the history, the medical and political players, the statistics, and also some anecdotes of AIDS sufferers and what they went through.

The theme of the book is that the US didn't exactly do the best job of containing AIDS, and there seems to be plenty of blame to go around. Shilts mostly focuses on the lack of funding from the federal government, but blood banks, the various federal agencies, the local mayors, the gay community, and even researchers all had a part to play in the slow response. No one escapes his scrutiny.

All in all, this book is a very comprehensive look at an extremely scary situation, but I have to knock off one star for its essential repetitiveness. The book is organized chronologically, and I think there were better approaches that would have shortened the book (over 600 pages) and would have made it more accessible to the average reader. But very, very good for anyone with an interest in science and politics and how the two intersect in ways that aren't always good for society. ( )