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  • And the Band Played On

  • Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
  • By: Randy Shilts
  • Narrated by: Victor Bevine
  • Length: 31 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (154 ratings)
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And the Band Played On cover art

And the Band Played On

By: Randy Shilts
Narrated by: Victor Bevine
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Summary

By the time Rock Hudson's death in 1985 alerted all America to the danger of the AIDS epidemic, the disease had spread across the nation, killing thousands of people and emerging as the greatest health crisis of the 20th century. America faced a troubling question: What happened? How was this epidemic allowed to spread so far before it was taken seriously?

In answering these questions, Shilts weaves the disparate threads into a coherent story, pinning down every evasion and contradiction at the highest levels of the medical, political, and media establishments. Shilts shows that the epidemic spread wildly because the federal government put budget ahead of the nation's welfare; health authorities placed political expediency before the public health; and scientists were often more concerned with international prestige than saving lives.

Against this backdrop, Shilts tells the heroic stories of individuals in science and politics, public health and the gay community, who struggled to alert the nation to the enormity of the danger it faced. And the Band Played On is both a tribute to these heroic people and a stinging indictment of the institutions that failed the nation so badly.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Randy Shilts' book, you'll also receive an exclusive Jim Atlas interview. This interview – where James Atlas interviews Larry Kramer about the life and work of Randy Shilts – begins as soon as the audiobook ends.

This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.
©1987 Randy Shilts (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The most thorough, comprehensive exploration of the AIDS epidemic to date....It is fascinating, frightening, and essential reading." ( San Francisco Chronicle)
" And the Band Played On is about the kind of people we have been for the past seven years. That is its terror, and its strength." ( The New York Times Book Review)
"A heroic work of journalism." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about And the Band Played On

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A real time capsule

Shilts offers a first hand report of AIDS hitting the newly liberated gay communities of San Francisco and New York at the start of the 80s and goes on to provide a masterpiece of journalism encompassing the reaction of community leaders, the community itself, scientists, politicians, journalists and the US healthcare industry in the shape of hospitals and blood banks. It works as a tragedy, an epidemiological who-done-it, history and drama. Most of the players don't come out of it with unblemished reputations, Ronald Reagan, the blood banks and Dr Robert Gallo being disreputable stand-outs amongst stiff competition. It's gripping, infuriating and touching in equal measure and a great listen but you'll need to be ready to listen to a lot of material about fisting, rimming and the extremely lively bath-house scene. Not my bag particularly but for all sorts of reasons it's entirely appropriate that the book deals with them frankly.

I had some personal questions about the way Shilts flips from reporting verifiable facts to offering us the thoughts of some of the protagonists which I'm struggling to see how he'd know. I was also occasionally irked by the narrator's very dramatic style which seemed to be trying offer Shilts' reporting an additional emotional umph that it didn't really require. These are all small things though. It's no plot spoiler to say (because it doesn't appear in the book) that Shilts opted not to be tested for AIDS until the book was complete in order to avoid biasing his reporting. He was diagnosed shortly after its completion and died in 1994. So this is a real monument to his talent.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Comprehensive and interesting

Good social history using real life stories as a narrative structure. I was interested in the epidemiology of the disease as it emerged but also learned alot about gay rights in 1980s USA. Astonished at how late blood transfusion was recognised as transmitting virus, found this shocking and a lessen to UK on verge of privatising blood banks. The narrator is fine, no silly voices or over-acting. Highly recomended.

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Superb piece of journalism

Where does And the Band Played On rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Full insight into american AIDS history.

Any additional comments?

Book is not 79 hours long, its about 32 hours long, wish Audible would correct that. I fell for the trick as I'm a sucker for a very long listens. However, the book was well worth it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Politics and public health

Randy Shilts gives an interesting and moving account of how political apathy, medical hubris and hypocrisy, downright venality, and a reluctance in the media to talk about sex, created the ideal conditions for the AIDS pandemic to flourish in the early years. Nobody cared about a disease that seemed only to affect homosexual men, intravenous drug users, and certain ethnic minorities. Their shortsightedness cost millions of lives.
The stories of illness and death among the author's friends are very moving.
The 'Patient Zero' angle about Gaeton Dugas has since been refuted by the medical establishment and people who knew Dugas. It adds nothing to the book and, in contrast to the political commentary in the book, has a soapy tabloid feel. The author unintentionally reveals more about himself in these segments than he perhaps intended

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Essential history

This is not an easy read, but is very detailed, interesting and well sourced.

Essential history of the queer community.

The narration is slow and once or twice there were some dodgy accents, but overall ok. I listened on 1.5-2x speed.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Eye opening

A history of a tragedy, written fiercely and narrated with great skill.

I was born in 1989 so my history of the AIDs crisis is somewhat after the fact. The story of the disease, but more importantly of the people, opened my eyes to a recent history that had passed me by.

The story feels eerily similar to Chernobyl, from the indifference of the government to the bravery of the victims.

The book takes 15 minutes to truly catch fire, but the next 30 hours are sensational.

I cannot recommend strongly enough.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

Unbelievably good early history of the AIDS epidemic from an American perspective. It covers the people and communities effected, the politics, and the science all in great detail. It's detail, however, does not get in the way of the story which is riveting from start to finish.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Mr
  • 05-02-18

Wonderful & Heartbreaking

I loved every second if this book. It was fascinating and Heartbreaking in equal measures. A must read!

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • 17-03-17

Very Good.

Very well performed, produced and edited.
The book is informative and often shocking. Revealing the flaws in early HIV/AIDS policy in the US from the first diagnosis to Reagan's first official speech on the subject.

the audiobook although detailed moves swiftly around the different organisations and people as the epidemic unfolds.

Sympathetic without being mawkish the book brings home the tragedy of the disease.

Not just a LGBT, a book for anyone interested.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

A real eye opener funny in places heart breaking in others. I had no idea how awful AIDS really was this gives some idea of the suffering but the real tragedy was the response of different groups,; government, health care, the gay community everyone.
Well worth a read

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