Journalist David France tells the story of the grassroots movement of activists, most in a life-or-death struggle, who seized upon scientific research to help develop the drugs that turned HIV into a death sentence to a mostly manageable disease. France shows how this small group of people chose to fight for their lives, even when ignored by public officials, and condemned by religious leaders, and even by the nation at large. These activists became their own lobbyists, researchers and drug smugglers, and forced reform in the nation's disease-fighting agencies.
France was an insider to this moment in American history and civil rights. This book is sometimes difficult to read, but I found it difficult to put down, as well. It's fascinating and filled with facts, which means that sometimes, it's awful to read. However, France is unflinching, and that's what makes the book so compelling. He illuminates the lives of people at the heart of the struggle, and also explains what happened from the beginning of the discovery of AIDS all through to where viable treatment options finally started to become available. As I mentioned, at times, it's hard to read this book. Not only is there a tremendous amount of information to digest, but it was difficult for me to read about how people with AIDS were treated, especially when the discovery of the disease was in its infancy. Because of widespread fear and ignorance, professionals who had taken a vow of "do no harm" were, in fact, neglecting the very people who needed their care and compassion. I found it extremely compelling that France describes these as plague years, because I feel that's very accurate.
While I have not personally known anyone with AIDS, I certainly was aware of it when I was in high school and college. However, reading this book made me aware that I was pretty sheltered from most of it, because I didn't live in a city, and just wasn't as exposed to what was happening. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the Internet wasn't a thing like it is today, and AIDS wasn't as prevalent in the news at first. However, I remember the rise of Safe Sex campaigns. I also remember when I worked at an MRI center in college, and having patients who had HIV come in for their MRIs. This was in the early 1990s and there was still an air of fear and caution that accompanied these people.
These days, HIV is not necessarily a death sentence, and people are able to manage their care much better. However, this means that there are a lot of young people who might not have any idea of what happened in the early years of the disease, which is why I feel this book is so important. It's important to the people who lived through those years, whether they were at the heart of it or not. However, I feel it's most important for those people who are younger, and who might not be aware of what happened because there are some pretty important lessons to be learned from what happened, how the situation was handled, and that it's essential to know about this and remember the history of the plague years of AIDS.
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