And the Band Played On
OCLC 16130075 | |
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a 1987 book by
The book is an extensive work of investigative journalism, written in the form of an encompassing time line; the events that shaped the epidemic are presented as sequential matter-of-fact summaries. Shilts describes the impact and the politics involved in battling the disease on particular individuals in the gay, medical, and political communities. Shilts begins his discussion in 1977 with the first confirmed case of AIDS, that of Grethe Rask, a Danish doctor working in Africa. He ends with the announcement by actor Rock Hudson in 1985 that he was dying of AIDS, when international attention on the disease exploded.
And the Band Played On was critically acclaimed and became a best-seller. Judith Eannarino of the Library Journal called it "one of the most important books of the year", upon its release.[1] It made Shilts both a star and a pariah for his coverage of the disease and the bitter politics in the gay community. He described his motivation to undertake the writing of the book in an interview after its release, saying, "Any good reporter could have done this story, but I think the reason I did it, and no one else did, is because I am gay. It was happening to people I cared about and loved."[2] The book was later adapted into an HBO film of the same name in 1993. Shilts was tested for HIV while he was writing the book; he died of complications from AIDS in 1994.
Background
To me, that summed up the whole problem of dealing with AIDS in the media. Obviously, the reason I covered AIDS from the start was that ... it was never something that happened to those other people.
—Randy Shilts, 1983
Shilts decided to write And the Band Played On after attending an awards ceremony in 1983 where he was to receive a commendation for his coverage on AIDS. As described in the book, television announcer Bill Kurtis gave the keynote address and told a joke: "What's the hardest part about having AIDS? Trying to convince your wife that you're Haitian."[3] Shilts responded to the joke by saying that it "says everything about how the media had dealt with AIDS. Bill Kurtis felt that he could go in front of a journalists' group in San Francisco and make AIDS jokes. First of all, he could assume that nobody there would be gay and, if they were gay, they wouldn't talk about it and that nobody would take offense at that. To me, that summed up the whole problem of dealing with AIDS in the media. Obviously, the reason I covered AIDS from the start was that, to me, it was never something that happened to those other people."[2] After publication of the book, Shilts explained his use of the title: "And the Band Played On is simply a snappier way of saying 'business as usual'. Everyone responded with an ordinary pace to an extraordinary situation."[4]
Summary
Shilts focuses on several organizations and communities that were either hit hardest by AIDS—and were given the task of finding the cause of the disease—or begging the government for money to fund research and provide social services to people who were dying. He often uses an
Gay community
AIDS in the United States most notably struck gay communities in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. This was largely due to the general public's limited knowledge of the importance of protected ("safe") sex and IV drug using practices in preventing the transmission of diseases in the 1970s and 80s. Shilts' sources in the gay community tried to remember the last time everyone they knew was healthy, which was the
In San Francisco, particularly in the Castro District, gay community activists such as Bill Kraus and Cleve Jones found a new direction in gay rights when so many men came down with strange illnesses in 1980. The San Francisco Department of Public Health began tracing the disease, linked it to certain sexual practices, and made recommendations—stop having sex—to gay men to avoid getting sick, a directive that defied the chief reason why many gay men had migrated to the Castro, and for what gay rights activists in San Francisco had fought for years.[8] Kraus and Jones often found themselves fighting a two-fronted battle: against city politicians who would rather not deal with a disease that affected gay men, who were seen as an undesirable population, and the gay men themselves, who refused to listen to doomsday projections and continued their unsafe behavior.[9]
In New York City, men like
In these cities, however, the sizable gay communities in most instances were responsible for raising the most money for research, providing the money for and subsequently the social services for the dying, and educating themselves and other high-risk groups. Kramer would go on to form
Medical community
Doctors were the first to deal with the toll that AIDS would take in the United States. Some—like
Shilts praised the Public Health Department of San Francisco's handling of the new communicable disease as they tracked down people who were sick and linked them to other people who had symptoms, although some of them were living in different parts of the country. He criticized the New York City Public Health Department for doing very little, specifically when Public Health Director David Sencer refused to call AIDS an emergency and stated that the Public Health Department need not do anything because the gay community was handling it sufficiently.[15]
Around the same time gay men were getting sick in the United States, doctors in Paris were receiving patients who were African or who had lived in Africa with the same symptoms as the Americans. Parisian researchers Jean-Claude Chermann,
Departmental ego and pride, according to Shilts, also confounded research as the
The discovery of HIV in the nation's blood supply and subsequent lack of response by blood bank leadership occurred as early as 1982,[23] yet it was not until 1985, when HIV antibody testing was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that blood bank industry leaders acknowledged that HIV could be transmitted through blood transfusions.[24] Shilts' coverage revealed the feeling among blood bank industry leaders that screening donors for hepatitis alone might offend the donors, and that the cost of screening all the blood donations provided across the country every year was too high to be feasible.[25]
Political and governmental agencies
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the agency responsible for tracking down and reporting all communicable diseases in the U.S., faced governmental apathy in the face of mounting crisis. Shilts reported how CDC epidemiologists forged ahead blindly after being denied funding for researching the disease repeatedly. Shilts expressed particular frustration describing instances of the CDC fighting with itself over how much time and attention was being paid to AIDS issues.[26]
Although Reagan Administration officials like
Shilts made comparisons to the government's disparate reaction to the
Shilts accused Ronald Reagan of neglecting to address AIDS to the American people until 1987—calling his behavior "ritualistic silence"—even after Reagan called friend Rock Hudson to tell him to get well.[31] After Hudson's death and in the face of increasing public anxiety, Reagan directed Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to provide a report on the epidemic. Though Koop was a political conservative, his report was nevertheless clear about what causes AIDS and what people and the U.S. government should do to stop it, including sex and AIDS education provided for all people.[32]
On a civic level, the closure of gay bathhouses in San Francisco became a bitter political fight in the gay community. Activists put pressure on the San Francisco Public Health director to educate people about how AIDS is transmitted, and demanded he close bathhouses as a matter of public health.[33]
News media
Shilts was assigned to AIDS full-time at The San Francisco Chronicle in 1982. It was from this unique vantage point that he repeatedly criticized the U.S.
Critical reception
The book became a commercial success, contrary to Shilts' own expectations.
Literary
Literary reviews of the work were generally positive, with reviewers commenting on the "hypnotic" and "thriller-like" qualities of the book. Shilts' investigative and journalistic endeavors were praised, and reviewers seemed genuinely moved by the personal stories of the major players.
In a 1988 book review, Jack Geiger of
Science and law
Shilts' book has been used as a standard by the lay press when reviewing books chronicling subsequent medical crises including
Although Sandra Panem in the journal Science praised Shilts' efforts and the attention the book brought to AIDS, she criticized his simplistic interpretation of science and the ways research is fostered and accomplished in the U.S. Panem furthermore believes Shilts gives appropriate weight to the issue of homophobia hampering attention on the disease, but remarks that even if AIDS had struck a more socially acceptable group of people, similar delays and confusion would have slowed medical progress.[53]
Gaëtan Dugas as "Patient Zero"
The book includes extensive discussion of Gaëtan Dugas, a Canadian flight attendant who died in 1984.[56][57] Dugas was labeled Patient Zero of AIDS, because he was linked directly or indirectly with 40 of the first 248 reported cases of AIDS in the United States, and after he was told of his ability to infect others, defiantly continued to have unprotected sex. Many book reviews concentrated their material on Dugas, or led their assessment of the book with discussion of his behavior. Some reviewers interpreted Shilts' naming Dugas "Patient Zero" to mean that Dugas brought AIDS to North America; National Review called Dugas the "Columbus of AIDS" and in their review of And the Band Played On stated, "[Dugas] picked up the disease in Europe through sexual contact with Africans. Traveling on his airline-employee privileges, he spread it here from coast to coast."[58] Shilts never stated this in the book, instead writing, "Whether Gaëtan Dugas actually was the person who brought AIDS to North America remains a question of debate and is ultimately unanswerable ... there's no doubt that Gaëtan played a key role in spreading the new virus from one end of the United States to the other."[59] Time titled its review of And the Band Played On "The Appalling Saga of Patient Zero", erroneously restating the claim that Dugas had brought AIDS to the continent.[60] Even a press release by St. Martin's Press made the connection between Dugas and the introduction of AIDS to the Western World in its title, but not its text.[61][57]
When the book was released, Dugas' story became a controversial subject in the Canadian media. Shilts claimed that "the Canadian press went crazy over the story" and that "Canadians ... saw it as an offense to their nationhood."
Sandra Panem in Science uses Shilts' approach toward Dugas' behavior as an example of his "glib" treatment of the science involved in the epidemic.[53] Author Douglas Crimp suggests that Shilts' representation of Dugas as "murderously irresponsible" is in actuality "Shilts' homophobic nightmare of himself", and that Dugas is offered as a "scapegoat for his heterosexual colleagues, in order to prove that [Shilts], like them, is horrified by such creatures."[61]
Many years later, in the 2000s, it was shown, by tracing the roots of the virus, that it had spread from Africa to Haiti, and then to the U.S. in the mid-1960s, before Dugas would have been very sexually active, if at all, and before he was working as a flight attendant.[63] Even the labelling of Dugas as "Patient Zero" was due to a misunderstanding of the study of sexual contacts amongst a group of men indicating how the disease was transmitted – he was identified in the study as 'Patient [letter] O', for "Out of California" – but people reading and discussing the research began referring to and thinking about a "Patient Zero" as the origin of the disease.[56][57]
In 2016, a study of early AIDS cases demonstrated that Dugas could not have been "Patient Zero".[64]
After publication
While Shilts was writing the book he was tested for HIV but insisted his doctor not tell him the results until the book was finished so it would not affect his journalistic integrity and judgment.[65][56] On the day he sent the final manuscript to the publisher, he learned he was HIV-positive. He also revealed that he received abuse from gays for the articles he wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle supporting the bathhouse closures, as well as for And the Band Played On, saying it was common for him to be spat upon in the Castro District.[66] He was openly booed when he attended the premiere of The Times of Harvey Milk—based on his book The Mayor of Castro Street—at the Castro Theatre. Footage he had shot as a television reporter was included in the film, but during the construction of the documentary he was so controversial that the film's editors removed him from footage showing him with Milk.[67] Following the publication of And the Band Played On, however, he was "worshipped" by many in the gay community for writing the book, but also seen as someone who pandered to publicity.[68]
Shilts declared while promoting the book in Australia in 1988 that AIDS in the western world could be eradicated, and by 1994, "AIDS could be as manageable as diabetes". However, in reference to Africa, Shilts noted, "At this point it's inconceivable that there will be an AIDS-free world in Central Africa, as we're looking at a death rate on the scale of the Holocaust."[69] Shilts gave an interview in 1991 where he noticed, "the stellar AIDS reporters in the early years ...the people who did the best job—and the reporters who wanted to cover AIDS but their male editors wouldn't let them—tended to be women", and made a connection that if more women were allowed to write about the epidemic, media coverage would have been vastly different.[70]
Shilts died from complications of AIDS in 1994, age 42.[56] Upon his death he was eulogized by Cleve Jones, who said "Randy's contribution was so crucial. He broke through society's denial and was absolutely critical to communicating the reality of AIDS."[71] Larry Kramer said of him, "He single-handedly probably did more to educate the world about AIDS than any single person."[72]
Film
And the Band Played On was used as the basis for a 1993
Translations
- ISBN 9783442426690.
- ISBN 9788440655172.
- ISBN 9787532781331.
See also
- Timeline of early HIV/AIDS cases
- Zero Patience (1993 Canadian musical film)
- Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men (1997 non-fiction book)
- The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (1994 best-selling non-fiction thriller)
Notes
- ^ Judith Eannarino noted, "Shilts has the ability to draw the reader hypnotically into the personal lives of his characters. That, and his monumental investigative effort, would have made this a best-selling novel—if the contents weren't so horribly true."(Eannarino, Judith (November 15, 1987). "And the Band Played On (book review)." Library Journal 112 (19) p. 71.) A reviewer with the feminist magazine Hera agreed, saying, "And the Band Played On reads like a mystery thriller. The fact that it is non-fiction adds to the intensity but also increases the rage the reader is left with."(Johnston, Peg. "And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic; A Review of the book by Randy Shilts." Hera. March 31, 1989. 9 (2), p. 3.) Elena Brunet in the Los Angeles Times called it "An important, masterful piece of investigative reporting".(Brunet, Elena. "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts." Los Angeles Times: October 2, 1988. p. 14.) Anthony Clare in The Times stated in a review, "And the Band Played On is a formidable chronicle of wasted time, petty intrigue, bigoted posturing, blind faith and suffering", before warning the United Kingdom their response to AIDS was drawing too close a parallel to the United States'.(Clare, Anthony. "Chronicle of many deaths foretold: Review of 'And The Band Played On' by Randy Shilts", The Times, February 28, 1988.) Joan Breckenridge in The Globe and Mail gave the book high praise for "an excellent piece of both investigative and political journalism", and for the style of writing, although cautioning that at more than 600 pages casual readers might be overwhelmed.(Breckenridge, Joan. "The awful epidemic that was allowed to happen: And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic." The Globe and Mail (Canada), December 5, 1987.) Nan Goldberg in The Boston Globe characterized it as a, "groundbreaking book on the history of the AIDS epidemic ... every element of a thriller." (Goldeberg, Nan. "Science Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine (book review)." The Boston Globe, January 6, 2002.)
Citations
- ^ Eannarino, Judith (November 15, 1987). "And the Band Played On (book review)". Library Journal, 112 (19), p. 71.
- ^ a b c Geiger, H Jack (1987-11-08). "Plenty of Blame to Go Around". The New York Times Book Review. p. 9. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
- ^ p. 384, And the Band Played On
- ^ a b Engel, Margaret. "AIDS and Prejudice: One Reporter's Account of the Nation's Response." The Washington Post, December 1, 1987, p. Z10.
- ^ pp. 142–143 And the Band Played On
- ^ p. 12, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 585–590, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 38–40, 154–155 And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 152–154, 167, 180, 200, 209–210, And the Band Played On
- ^ p. 133–134, 166–167, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 309–311, And the Band Played On
- ^ "Larry Kramer." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
- ^ "Cleve Jones." Gay & Lesbian Biography. St. James Press, 1997. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009.
- ^ pp. 150, 321–322, 374–375 And the Band Played On.
- ^ p. 310, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 219, 229, 237–238, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 238, 239–240, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 264, 386–388, 401, 409, 418–420 And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 429–430, 434–435, 444–445, 447–448, 450–452, 460–462, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 103–104, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp.115–116, 160–161, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 124, 135–136, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 195, 220–223, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 307–309, 332–333, 344–346, And the Band Played On
- ^ p. 223, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp.292–293, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 293–4 And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 294–298, 363–364, 455–456, 471–472, And the Band Played On
- ^ p. 191 And the Band Played On.
- ^ p. 186 And the Band Played On.
- ^ p. 588, And the Band Played On.
- ^ 587–598, And the Band Played On
- ^ pp. 153–154, 305–307, 314–317, 413–418, 436–439, 440–443, 481–482, And the Band Played On
- ^ p. 137, And the Band Played On.
- ^ pp. 353–354, And the Band Played On.
- ^ pp. 110, 183, 213, 267–268, 320 And the Band Played On.
- ^ pp. 299–301, 320–321, And the Band Played On.
- ^ a b Grimes, William (February 18, 1994). "Randy Shilts, Author, Dies at 42; One of First to Write About AIDS" The New York Times, p. D.17.
- ^ a b Katz, Jon (May 27, 1993). "AIDS and the Media: Shifting Out of Neutral", Rolling Stone, Issue 657, pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b Markel, Howard (July 2001). "Journals of the Plague Years: Documenting the History of the AIDS Epidemic in the United States", American Journal of Public Health, 91 (7), p. 1025.
- ^ American Library Association. "The Stonewall Book Award website". Archived from the original on 2007-04-07. Retrieved on December 21, 2007
- ^ Monteagudo, Jesse. "100 lesbian and gay books that changed our lives." Lambda Book Report; January 2000. Vol. 8, Iss. 6; p. 12, 2 pgs.
- ^ Rogers, Michael. "NY Librarians Pick 21 New Classics." Library Journal, 10/01/99, Vol. 124 Issue 16, p18, 2p
- ^ Marcus, p. 326.
- ^ Myers, Woodrow. "AIDS: A Reporter's Journey Into the Maelstrom AND THE BAND PLAYED ON by Randy Shilts." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California: December 6, 1987. p. 6.
- ^ Kyper, John. "Stories from the epidemic: Two important books about the impact of AIDS." Gay Community News. Boston: September 21, 1991. Vol. 19, Iss. 9; p. 8.
- ^ Shaw, David (June 28, 1992). "Gay Journalists Hold First Conference Media: Delegates assess progress being made against newsroom hostility and the battles that remain". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Bolotin, Susan. "Slash, Burn and Poison (book review). The New York Times, April 13, 1997, Sunday, Section 7; Page 8
- ^ "A Chronic Fatigue Cover-Up?" Newsweek, April 22, 1996, p. 62.
- ^ Solomon, Charles. "Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange by Fred A. Wilcox." Los Angeles Times: December 17, 1989. p. 10
- ^ Biemiller, Lawrence. "Book World; A Clinical Look at Life With AIDS." The Washington Post: April 2, 1993. p. D.02
- ^ Randal, Judith. "Reality Check; Fighting AIDS in the Trenches." The Washington Post: February 9, 1993. p. Z.19.
- ^ a b Panem, Sandra (February 26, 1988). "Review: A Drama and Questions", Science 239 (4843), pp. 1039–1040.
- ^ Parmet, Wendy (1986). "AIDS and the Law/And the Band Played on (Book)", American Journal of Law & Medicine, 12 (3/4), p. 503–510.
- ^ Manning, Peter and Stein, Terry (May 1989). "On the Social Meanings of AIDS", Contemporary Sociology 18 (3), p. 422–424.
- ^ a b c d Crewe, Tom (27 September 2018). "Here was a plague". London Review of Books. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Johnson, Brian D. (17 April 2019). "How a typo created a scapegoat for the AIDS epidemic". Maclean's. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ "The Columbus of AIDS", The National Review (November 6, 1987), p. 19.
- ^ p. 439, And the Band Played On
- ^ Henry III, William A. (October 19, 1987). "The Appalling Saga of Patient Zero", Time. Retrieved on May 8, 2009.
- ^ a b Crimp, Douglas (Winter, 1987). "How to Have Promiscuity in an Epidemic." AIDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural Activism 43 pp. 237–271
- ^ Moss AR (1988). "AIDS without end". New York Review of Books. 35 (19). Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- Beatrice H. Hahn of Penn Center for AIDS Research.
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- ^ Levine, Bettijane (February 17, 1993). "Shilts Confirms He Is HIV-Positive", Los Angeles Times, p. 1.
- ^ Kirka, Danica. "Randy Shilts Fighting Against the Rules Restricting Gays in the Military;" Los Angeles Times: July 25, 1993. p. 3
- ^ Marcus, p. 270.
- ^ Schmalz, Jeffrey. "At Home With: Randy Shilts; Writing Against Time, Valiantly;" The New York Times April 22, 1993. p. C1.
- ^ "West 'AIDS-free within 30 years.'" Sunday Mail (South Africa), September 4, 1988.
- ^ Shaw, David. "Gender of Editors Affects Coverage of Stories on Sex Media: Women tend to favor more candor in reports on rape, AIDS and the private lives of politicians. Series: THE PRESS AND SEX: Assessing media's coverage when private matters become public. Second in a two-part series." Los Angeles Times: August 19, 1991. p. 1
- ^ Warren, Jennifer. "Randy Shilts, Chronicler of AIDS Epidemic, Dies at 42 Journalism: Author of 'And the Band Played On' is credited with awakening nation to the health crisis." Los Angeles Times February 18, 1994. p. 1
- ^ "Randy Shilts, journalist, 42, of AIDS." Telegram & Gazette. (Worcester, Massachusetts): February 18, 1994. p. B.7
- ^ Brelsauer, Jan "1993 year in Review AIDS The Year the Plague Went Mainstream." Los Angeles Times; December 26, 1993. p. 5
- ^ Roush, Matt. "'Band': Noble, but slightly out of sync." USA TODAY, September 10, 1993.
- ^ Natale, Richard. "HBO filmmaker gives TV movies a new image." The Washington Times, May 1, 1994, p. D1.
Bibliography
- Stoner, Andrew E. (2019). "The Journalist of Castro Street: The Life of Randy Shilts," University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252051326
- Marcus, Eric (2002). Making Gay History, HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-093391-7
- Shilts, Randy (1987). And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-24135-6