Product Description

From the Castro bathhouses to AZT and the denial of AIDS in South Africa, this sweeping look at AIDS covers the epidemic from all angles and across the world. Engel seamlessly weaves together science, politics, and culture, writing with an even hand&#8212noting the excesses of the more radical edges of the ACT UP movement as well as the conservative religious leaders who thought AIDS victims deserved what they got.

Customer Reviews (6)

CF: Book Review for The Epidemic
The Epidemic: A Global History on Aids

The topic of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is broad, complex, catastrophic, and incredibly interesting. ¬¬¬ Jonathan Engel's The Epidemic: A Global History of Aids does a coherent job in explaining the complex history of the AIDS epidemic.Engel breaks down the AIDS/HIV timeline and its catastrophic effect on the world beginning from the 1930's. He begins with the origins of AIDS and continues with its vast effect on people, its effect in different countries, differences in trends, societal views and morals, government action, civil rights, and global connections.
Engel jumps right into the topic in the preface, leaving out unnecessary boring anecdotal information. As Engel focuses on the many facets of AIDS and its problems, he jumps from different topics, focusing one chapter on the science of AIDS and focusing on government and society in other chapters. This book is a comprehensive collection of short books. Engel, for instance, sums up the origins of AIDS with its similarity to the SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) in monkeys in Africa and then begins to tell the long story of AIDS how it made its way to the West. The book is interesting, making it a relatively easy read. Engel breaks this broad topic into chapters with sub-chapters
This history itself is fascinating and the evidence Engel uses to support his information is excellent. Engel makes it easier to understand AIDS and HIV as it progressed in the 1930's through the 1990's. This book is a great resource to build a foundation to understand this virus from a social perspective. The Epidemic does not provide very much information about the myths that are associated with the denial of HIV causing AIDS. Although a few myths were mentioned, Engel refuted those claims in short, swift sentences in his summary.
Engel portrays a very neutral connotation when describing controversial situations regarding AIDS and society's reaction to it. The flow and cohesiveness of the book is more objective in its reporting on AIDS. For example, when relaying the details about the beginning of the outbreak, starting with its prevalence in homosexuals, and IV drugs users, Engel does a good job in explaining the situation from an objective point of view. He describes how AIDS is used as means for political gain, if not for moral humiliation by religious parties, then for homosexuals' Civil Rights or other political agendas.
The Epidemic is very informative and does an excellent job in explaining and summarizing these difficult subjects. Instead of going too in-depth about how HIV and AIDS work, Engel simplifies this topic with more general terms, making it easier for any reader who is unfamiliar with this topic to understand. Engel describes how AIDS redefined the world, from its first appearances in homosexuals and how some people thought they deserved what they got, to how the third world countries struggled to cope with such an expensive and difficult disease. Engel also incorporates stories, experiences, and perspectives regarding AIDS from either a victim or by-stander viewpoint in order to get a reaction from his readers. Engel illustrates the trials and errors America took in trying to tame this epidemic. Despite the complexity and how far the AIDS effect reached, Engel is able to explain everything in a concise and fluid manner. Also, because Engel focuses on the global aspect of AIDS, he talks about AIDS and its transition. He discusses changes in demographics, how AIDS spread between different genders, and trends within race groups, sexuality, countries, and government involvement.
One of the best features about The Epidemic is its list of sources in the back of the book. Engel has broken down all the sources he has used for each chapter, therefore providing more sources to readers who might want to look for more in-depth information on all of his subtopics.
If a reader's purpose is to find more research into the skeptical claims made about HIV and AIDS, this is not the book to get. It offers good background information so far as its history, but it does not offer much science behind the virus nor does it delve into how the virus works or evolved. This book only scratches the surface with what AIDS and HIV is in detail. The Epidemic offers its readers a quick history of the aids virus and also compares its effect in different parts of world and to different groups of people. It is easy to navigate through the book or skip parts of little interest because not all of the chapters must be read to fully understand its topic. For example, Engel focuses a section to AIDS in Africa as well as AIDS in Asia. Therefore, a reader would not be left in the dark if they chose not to read certain chapters. This book takes readers on a trip, from the origins of AIDS in Africa to the homosexual bathhouses in America.
This book is intended to intrigue general readers who are either unfamiliar or who know very little about the AIDS epidemic. The purpose of The Epidemic is to explain in coherent detail the facts. This book is not intended for medical doctors. As the book begins with basic information about AIDS, it also continues to describe the AIDS/HIV more complex history and how it effected the world on every level. In Engel's conclusion, he describes how many countries and societies had to adapt and change and the differences are even more interesting as countries such as Africa remained in denial and ignorance. Engel's novel is both thorough, easy to read and quite interesting.

Carefully documented history of AIDS
Not only is this book well documented and thorough, it is well written and interesting. So many opportunities for teaching AIDS awareness and prevention and opportunities for saving lives were missed because of misguided fear of teaching human sexuality and AIDS prevention.Because of such ignorance and fear, too many lives were lost. This is an excellent book for libraries, and should be on every church and school library shelf.

Language Matters
I read The Epidemic hoping to find new, useful information to use in updating my own 1999 AIDS history, Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America (University of Chicago Press). I have to admit I was skeptical that any book could capture the global breadth of the HIV pandemic, and The Epidemic proved my skepticism well-founded. Not only does it skim along the surface of important, even profound, events, but the book is written in language that leaves the impression the author has not learned anything from what the pandemic has taught about the vital importance of language. I was surprised to learn the author holds a PhD in the history of medicine from Yale.

Here is what I mean: Throughout the book the terms HIV and AIDS are used interchangeably; they are not interchangeable. As it has been used since HIV testing became available, in 1985, AIDS refers to the advanced stage of HIV disease (the preferred term for the spectrum of HIV-related infection and illness) at which the virus has seriously damaged the immune system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers a CD4 T-cell count below 200, a CD4 T-cell percentage below 14 percent, or the presence of an opportunistic infection in someone who has HIV to be what "defines" AIDS. A person cannot "catch" AIDS, though an HIV-positive person can progress to AIDS if his/her HIV infection is not managed with antiretroviral therapy. Throughout The Epidemic, the author refers to people "catching," being "infected with" or "spreading" AIDS. This is inaccurate, misleading and even a bit histrionic.

Other examples of poor language choice (and sloppy writing): "the gay community has been uniquely vulnerable to the virus." No, individuals who practice particular activities (primarily unprotected receptive anal intercourse) are uniquely vulnerable to the virus; the gay community includes such men, though not all gay men practice such activities. "Diseased already, the prostitutes could both more easily get the disease as well as give it." This is highly stigmatizing language. "AIDS babies." What is an "AIDS baby"? I will assume it's a "baby born with HIV infection"?

In a 300+ page book, the tremendously important role of AIDS service organizations in caring for the sick and preventing further HIV transmission is considered in a few paragraphs. The global impact of gay American men with AIDS in the early 1980s insisting on an active role in their health care decisions, demanding respect and rejecting the label of "AIDS victim" isn't even considered. But maybe that isn't surprising because they were the very people with AIDS (as they insisted on being called) who pointed out that language--how one refers to a person or describes a disease caused by a retrovirus--matters.

Clearly this book has not benefitted from some of the most basic, and most important, lessons of the history of the HIV pandemic. It breaks no new ground, and offers only a superficial, not very well polished, gloss on what was called as early as 1983 "the most important health crisis of our time." I wish I had found something useful here to help update my own book, but unfortunately I didn't.

Fascinating look at the epidemic of our age
This is a well-written, fascinating account of a disease that will define our generation.The discussion of the social and political construct surrounding the epidemic was extremely interesting.I would highly recommend this book to any person who wants to understand the global AIDS crisis and its challenges a little better.

An excellent overview
This book gives an excellent overview of the history, spread and consequences of HIV as it spreads through the global population.Written in a clear and easy to read style it provides a depth of accurate information to the layperson that I do not think can be easily gotten elsewhere.

I was particularly impressed with the author's grasp of the cultural aspects of the disease and the way in which beliefs, traditions and practices contribue to how effectively specific populations are coping with the virus.

This book should be recommended reading! ... Read more

Product Description
Now in paperback: the news-making medical detective story. Hailed both for its revelations and its intense readability, this extraordinary work of investigative reporting examines the myriad theories about the origin of AIDSand offers compelling evidence that an experimental polio vaccine administered in Africa in the 1950s led to one of the most devastating infectious diseases in human history.Amazon.com Review
For all the devastation and suffering AIDS has causedworldwide, we have devoted surprisingly little attention to itsbeginnings. Former UN official and BBC correspondent Edward Hooperhopes to find the source of AIDS in The River, a stunninglycomprehensive yet deeply engaging scientific history of the disease.Through more than 10 years of research comprising over 600 interviewsand untold hours of library work, Hooper has uncovered a complex,interlocking set of stories--of scientific research, of medicalassistance to the Third World, of political and economic exigenciesthat drive the courses of our lives--and brought them together in over1,000 pages of text, footnotes, references, and illustrations.

Histhesis, that HIV made the jump from simians to humans via theadministration of oral polio vaccine in Africa in the 1950s, is stillcontroversial, but his arguments are powerful, broad, andundeniable--all that is lacking is conclusive proof.Like a goodscientist (and, sad to say, unlike any HIV researcher to date), heoffers several easy tests of his hypothesis.His tales of brilliantepidemiological deductions, biochemical comparisons, and physiologicalinsights ought to convince the medical establishment that the answercan and should be found, both to help us deal with the current crisisand to keep us from creating new ones of its ilk. In alitigation-weary world, though, it seems that it will take the kind oftireless, impartial research found in The River to show us--andour leaders--that blame should take a back seat to truth when extremecircumstances demand it. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (55)

The book, The disease and the consequences
Edward Hooper does extensive research and to me proves the origin of the disease in humans. He has been dismissed by some for petty jealous reasons. If you read this amazing true adventure you will be convinced as to its conclusions. Evidently scientists today don't want to blame their predessors, but we started the jump from chimpanzees to humans and it is powerfully and painfully obvious. Everyone should read this book.

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it"
I have not read the book in its entirety but I have done some research on the subject and Mr. Hooper is the only person who has ever provided any resonable explantion for the sudden appearance and subsequent explosion of the aids virus.And very compelling evidence it is, especially in the documetary.The fact that nearly all so called scientists simply dismiss his arguments out of hand is somewhat disturbing.Maybe some are afraid that acceptance of the evidence would jepardize current vaccines, or more to the point, peoples trust in them.Which is fairly likely.But how are we to react when supposedly reasonable, educated people put forth such completely unsubstatiated and ludicrous claims as 'mokey sex' or the current most popular belief among the scientific community about the 'bushmeat hunter' possibly getting bit while...wrestling a chimp?But what about all that talk about hiv not being transmittable via saliva?The people with all the labs and research do not seem to posses a shred of common sense.I know it is difficult to take a stance that is in direct opposition to that of your colleages, but this denial of the only plausible explanation yet produced, and not for a lack of trying, just stinks of hubris.But then maybe I am over reacting.Maybe you don't have to know anything of history to be effective in the field of science.But I will be wondering in the back of my mind every time I am offered a vaccine 'when is the next outbreak of horrible disease going to occur due to an oversight or carelessness in a lab?'-K

P.S.It seems that nearly all in the medical and scientific communities have defended this Polish doctors actions, and it is quite possible that he entered into the race for a polio vaccine with good intentions.It seems, however, to be more likely that he was doing it for personal reasons (personal glory, fame, money).That is not to say that is common of all researchers. But I have several friends that are doctors, and I have known a number of doctors through out my life, and they have, most all of them, been good people.Yet with nearly all that I questioned, the desire to help people, as it turned out, was not the first reason they entered the field.Just because a persons quest is noble does not mean the person is noble.Take people for what they are not what their position suggests them to be.Do not defend the indefensible because of some obscure and faulty notion that all medical personel, researchers or otherwise, are inherintly good people.It is simply not true as anyone who has read history knows.

The River
I don't hate the book, I just hate the service. I would glady offer you a review - IF I had the book.I have not received it YET!!!! today is 11 Mar.
No more orders from Babcock for me!!!! And, maybe Amazon too for using companies like Babcock to represent you.Shame on you!!!!
Thanks,
Jo Mueller

A house of cards
I am a biologist who sometimes studies retroviruses. This book is very well written, and I would be giving it 4 or 5 stars if it covered just the history of polio virus vaccines, or just the early origins of HIV. The latter is the reason I am reading it, as it is full of interesting anecdotes and persistently pursues stories on the earliest individuals who may have come down with AIDS, and describes meetings with many great virologists.

But then it goes completely astray. It unfairly targets a Polish-born doctor, who dedicated his life to polio prevention after fleeing Nazi occupation, as the person who brought HIV into human populations by passaging polio virus through chimpanzee cells (even though in 800 pages he finds absolutely no evidence that this ever occurred), essentially accusing this scientist of being the killer of tens of millions of people on extremely flimsy "evidence" that would be laughed out of any court this side of Libya.

He is a good enough writer that you really have to pay attention to realize that his arguments are houses of cards built upon houses of cards. At one point, his explanation consists of "hypothesizing" that PERHAPS a Rwandan woman PERHAPS got HIV from the polio vaccine then PERHAPS fled that country to PERHAPS become a prostitute in Mombasa (more than a thousand mile away) where PERHAPS one of her only clients was a Norwegian who ACTUALLY IS the first known European to come down with HIV (and who had travelled to Mombasa), before PERHAPS she decided to go back to Rwanda, thereby avoiding infecting ANY locals in Kenya, since it was NOT one of the places in which HIV first appeared.

This is a hypothesis? More like a complete fantasy. One fact stretched out with 50 silly conjectures is par for this book. In this case the author's intention is to tie the sailor in Mombasa to the nearest place that received the polio vaccine, but similarly weak conjectures are found everywhere the author wishes to make a connection.

He interviews the polio doctors and faults them for very minor lapses in memory--35 years after the events involved.

He doesn't appear to know that chimps are not monkeys, but apes. Even after 800 pages, the only chimps he can put even in the vicinity of the accused doctor are, perhaps unbeknownst to the author, chimps of the wrong species or subspecies, for example Pan paniscus or subspecies of Pan troglodytes that do NOT carry the relevant simian viruses and could not have given rise to HIV even assuming the far-fetched scenarios invoked by the author proved to be true.

All of the above flaws I noticed just in reading the book, undoubtedly there are many others that a closer investigation would uncover.

The writer is very good at his craft, on the order of Laurie Garrett, and could have been an excellent addition to those authors covering public health issues. Sadly, he goes wildly astray in accusing a medical researcher, using manufactured happenstance as "evidence".In the world today there are plenty of real mass murders, crimes against humanity, and horrors that could be exposed and brought to light by a good writer. How sad that he should use his considerable abilities to attack without evidence a hapless and innocent virologist.

Disgusting. I don't think the laws of libel or slander have a place in scientific discourse, but this book is so unscientific and so unfair to the researcher accused that I should hope this is an avenue available to him.

Finally, pay special attention to the last few chapters of the book, where Cooper acknowledges information that he doesn't mention previously. First, an analysis of HIV strains places their origin in French West Africa, OUTSIDE of the region of origin for the chimps he discusses throughout his book, and OUTSIDE of the Belgian colonies where the polio vaccine in question was distributed. Second, he starts his book with the effects that war and civil strife in Uganda had in spreading the virus in the 1970s, but he waits until the end of the book to let you know that similar events occurred in Rwanda-Burundi in 1959, which may be as good an explanation as his own theories for an increase in HIV, as he mentions that this represented the first major refugee crisis in postwar Africa. Third, the earliest 1959 HIV case is an ADULT in Stanleyville, and NOT one of the children given the polio vaccine, making his theory untenable, although he uses his usual conjectures to explain this fact away. Fourth, he mentions only in the last chapter that relaxation of Belgian rules led to a near doubling of the Stanleyville population in a few years, around the time that the first evidence for HIV in the cityoccurs. Doesn't this suggest that the massive flow of Congolese into the city may be what brought in the AIDS virus, including the ADULT carrier, and not the provision of polio vaccine at the same time to only CHILDREN in that city?

All the evidence that proves him wrong is not released until the last few chapters of the book. Watch for that.

De'Nile isn't Just a River in Africa
I will forgo a summary of this riveting book just to repeat so many other fine posts. This book taken alone doesn't provide "proof" of the origin of HIV, and many of the posted reviews by self proclaimed scientists are less than helpful including the one posted by Dr. Koprowski's son.

It has been shown that scientific research is frequently biased by the intent of those involved and anyone familiar with how the Pharamceutical industry "games the system" with the FDA in clinical trials, will cast a jaudiced eye on any research where money is at stake. How many of these scientists who are posting here are grant funded by Pharmaceutical companies?

Taken together with the film "The Origins of AIDS", based in large part on Hooper's book, the key point is that the players involved and the powers that be will continue to lie in an effort to escape responsibility,accountability and liability.

With compassion and with due credit to Dr. Koprowski for his lifelong contribution to science, he is as much a survival machine as any organism he studied. In watching "The Origin of AIDS" film, we are provided with the scientific equivilant of Bill Clinton telling the world that he "did not sleep with that woman". Powerful people will lie to avoid blame, shame and looking bad. So do the rest of us, but we seldom do it on film.

Seeing Dr. Koprowski vociferously deny the use of chimps in his vaccine work, only to see the film of chimps and hearing the testimony of the lab workers at his facility in Africa refuting those denials, makes one wonder, who else is lying?

Medical science all too frequently involves blunders that cost lives and the system is structured to provide plausible deniability and escape from liability to the money players involved. It is also built around a very powerful profit motive.

The fight over credit for the "discovery" of the HIV virus is a good case in point. The battle between the US and Dr. Gallo vs the French and the Pasteur Institute came down to the royalties for the use of the virus to produce lab tests and vaccines. It was about the money! Gallo negotiated credit and cash flow, while the Nobel committe got closer to the actual truth of the matter by awarding the Nobel to the French in 2008.

That in mind, do you really expect to see companies and countries lining up to take credit for creating this public health disaster? No doubt that researchers commtting their lives to finding cures for horrific diseases like polio are motivated by more than money, but you can be sure that the companies that bankrole the research are looking at the bottom line.

Polio in the 50's was a global problem and it had to be cured. I have seen another post here reminding us of how important it was to protect the poor institutionalized African children from polio, justifying the use of physically and mentally disabled African kids in vaccine trials. Too bad Malaria never took hold in the United States, otherwise 2-3,000 African kids a day wouldn't die from Malaria, because they would have worked harder on a vaccine for that horrific disease.

Let's not forget the Tuskeegee experiment studying Syphyllis using African American's as subjects. The use of the poor and ignorant, especially in Africa, in clinical trials is a time honored practice.

The scientific preisthood clings to the cross species transmission of SIV as the source of HIV, and SIV/HIV may very well have been a occuring for thousands of years in the Congo basin. Unfortunately the epidemiological studies are not hard enough evidence to let the vaccines trials off the hook. Unlike natural transmission, the trials may just have provided the critical mass of human virus infection for the ongoing entaglement of our species to become self sustaining.

The explosion of the spread of this virus and the associated diseases in the context of the vaccine work is too compelling to ignore. I am in favor of a "Scots" verdict here of "not proven". Just because I cannot prove you guilty doesn't make you innocent.

The truth has need of neither our understanding nor our scientific proof. The truth is simply what happened. Hooper comes up with a pretty good circumstantial guess but my guess is that we will never know the complete story. It would simply cost those who know the facts too much to risk disclosing them. In the mean time this book remains required reading. ... Read more

Product Description

This book examines the global governance of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, interrogating the role of this international system and global discourse on HIV/AIDS interventions. The geographical focus is Sub-Saharan Africa since the region has been at the forefront of these interventions. There is a need to understand the relationship between the international political environment and the impact of resulting policies on HIV/AIDS in the context of people’s lives.

Hakan Seckinelgin points out a certain disjuncture between this governance structures and the way people experience the disease in their everyday lives. Although the structure allows people to emerge as policy relevant target groups and beneficiaries, the articulation of needs and design of policy interventions tends to reflect international priorities rather than people’s thinking on the problem. In other words, he argues that while the international interventions highlight the importance attributed to the HIV/AIDS problem, the nature of the system does not allow interventions to be far reaching and sustainable.

Offering a critical contribution to the understanding of the problems in HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, International Politics of HIV/AIDS will be invaluable to students and researchers of health, international politics and development.

Product Description
The Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) presents the essential information needed by every nurse working with HIV/AIDS patients in any setting. The text provides an educational framework for HIV/AIDS clinical content and serves those preparing for specialty certification in HIV/AIDS training. The text covers: A) Infection, transmission, and prevention B) Clinical management of a variety of patient types C) Symptomatic conditions and symptom management D) Special populations and E) Psychosocial concerns for patients. ANAC's Core Curriculum for HIV/AIDS Nursing, Third Edition includes the following new topics: Updates to the evidence basis underlying the nursing care of persons with HIV/AIDS; New issues and challenges including the care for pediatric patients and adults with giardia, syphilis and bipolar disease; New text features including case studies and quizzes. ... Read more

Product Description
Changing the Course of AIDS is an in-depth evaluation of a new and exciting way to create the kind of much-needed behavioral change that could affect the course of the global health crisis of HIV/AIDS. This case study from the South African HIV/AIDS epidemic demonstrates that regular workers serving as peer educators can be as-or even more-effective agents of behavioral change than experts who lecture about the facts and so-called appropriate health care behavior. After spending six years researching the response of large South African companies to the epidemic that is decimating their workforce as well as South African communities, David Dickinson describes the promise of this grassroots intervention-workers educating one another in the workplace and community-and the limitations of traditional top-down strategies.

Dickinson's book takes us right into the South African workplace to show how effective and yet enormously complex peer education really is. We see what it means when workers directly tackle the kinds of sexual, gender, religious, ethnic, and broader social and political taboos that make behavior change so difficult, particularly when that behavior involves sex and sexuality. Dickinson's findings show that people who are not officially health care experts or even health care workers can be skilled and effective educators. In this book we see why peer education has so much to offer societies grappling with the HIV/AIDS epidemic and why those interested in changing behaviors to ameliorate other health problems like obesity, alcoholism, and substance abuse have so much to learn from the South African example. ... Read more

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Product Description
Duesberg argues that HIV is merely a harmless passenger virus that does not cause AIDS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (102)

Ignoring the data, and the truth
When Duesberg first began to talk about AIDS he was correct in saying that Koch's postulates had not been fulfilled. Some 20 years later both Koch's postulates and Bradford Hill's criteria for causation have been fulfilled, meaning it has been proven that HIV causes AIDS, according to established medical principles.

What's astonishing about Duesberg is that he continues to pretend that this data, and data from hundreds of related articles, simply does not exist. That's what we see in his talks and his writing: if you just ignore the published research, and selectively focus on the smaller, unresolved details,you can convince any gullible or predisposed person that established fact is false.

Outstanding book. Highly readable and genuinely convincing.
My only complaint is that an updated edition is needed, as this version was published in 1996. Yet much about HIV/AIDS remains the same: the risk groups, the number of Americans with HIV, the continuing lack of a vaccine, the expanding "latency period", the expanding list of AIDS-defining diseases, the conditional diagnosis, the different AIDS of Africa, etc.

The initial section on the history of misdiagnosed diseases going back to the acceptance of the germ theory through scurvy, beriberi, pellagra, and Legionnaire's Disease is essential background reading.

Amazing information
I'd heard of the battle of the gay community and AIDS researchers with Mr Duesberg and wanted more facts. I'm delighted that his information is finally written down; clearly and thoughtfully and more importantly to my non-scientific brain, accessibly. Since the author has gained nothing but making a target of himself, and the researchers refusing to acknowledge any of his information stand to lose $$billions in grant and research money, to say nothing of the drug companies and the $$billions in drug sales, I have to admit that I am have been willing to 'hear' his information. And after the AIDS conglomerates have quashed his attempts to respond to the Harvard paper accusing the author of genocide (really, he 'caused' the death of 300,000 plus Africans, in a country whose population DOUBLED during the same time he is accused of these deaths? Not rational, Harvard, not rational at all) I am doubly delighted to find this book. I would hope, several centuries ago, I would have been willing to look at Galileo's findings in as willing a mood. Meanwhile, regardless of your stance or interest, the book was interesting, and can make for spirited conversations around the table/water cooler/bar of your choice. It certainly has for me.
And what if he is correct and the research is wrong? Those folks who refuse to listen to his information may be committing even larger wrongs and more deaths in the name of their own pride. And I regret that, for my friends, for myself, and for our communal humanity.

Convoluted and wrong
Duesberg uses psuedo-science to "prove" his wildly wrong information.I've seen many of my friends with HIV go from near death to good health due to HIV meds, while I've seen AIDS denialists like Christine Maggiore die.Don't buy the Duesberg myth, and don't buy this book.

The Denialism IS the Conspiracy
It is shocking...and shameful....that over a decade after this book came out, and after the wealth of information gathered about HIV since then, some humans can still possibly think that:

A) HIV isn't real

or

B) HIV doesn't lead to full-blown AIDS

or

C) AIDS isn't real

But, even before we had a decade of deeper understanding (leading to significantly more effective antiretroviral treatments), this book was deeply, decidedly refuted by the vast majority of the people fighting on the front lines to educate and help people against a REAL, causal, viral killer.

The best refutation from "back then" can be seen here:

http://www.aidstruth.org/inventing.php

That was written in 1996.

I am dismayed....heartbroken....that here, 12 years later, people still log in to Amazon and give this tragically errant relic five stars, and glowing reviews.I suppose that people who WANT to believe in a conspiracy will simply believe it, and no amount of current, global, overwhelming scientific consensus can breach such an impenetrable ideological conviction.

For anyone reading this review who is NOT a zealot, and is NOT conspiracy-biased, I encourage you to read EVERYTHING YOU CAN, including Duesberg.Know the full history.Understand the controversies, real and imagined.Learn about all the present and past actors including some of the more prominent dissidents who died from AIDS in the midst of denying that they had it.

And most importantly, keep up with the field.Virology...like all of life science...is moving very fast now.As regards good science, concurrent, independent, global peer review is the lifeblood of healthy discussion here.Colorful contrarianism lives and breathes only when validated by redundant, independent, repeatable corroboration on a world scale.Without that, it eventually, rightfully dies, at least in the realm of practical scientific endeavor.

Think, read, and stay sane. ... Read more

Product Description
In Infectious Ideas, Jennifer Brier convincingly argues that the AIDS epidemic had a profound effect the American political landscape. Viewing contemporary history from the perspective of the AIDS crisis, she provides rich, new understandings of the complex social and political trends of the post-1960s era.

Brier describes how AIDS workers--in groups as disparate as the gay and lesbian press, AIDS service organizations, private philanthropies, and the State Department--influenced American politics, especially on issues such as gay and lesbian rights, reproductive health, racial justice, and health care policy, even in the face of the expansion of the New Right. Indeed, the book shows that efforts to deal with AIDS produced significant fissures in the conservative movement during this period, especially when the State Department and USAID adopted AIDS as a centerpiece of its diplomatic strategy, including the distribution of millions of condoms overseas.

Infectious Ideas places recent social, cultural, and political events in a new light, making an important contribution to our understanding of the United States at the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A History of My Generation
Growing up hearing about AIDS on the nightly news, my generation missed out on the sexual freedom which my parents had experienced.

But we have a different language to utilize and a different environment to utilize it in as a response from this development.

Initially and mistakenly identified as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency), AIDS now permeates every demographic group in society.

A profound strength of this book is that it examines the response to the virus from an intersecting sociological perspective. Almost as if from learning from the mistakes of the response to the virus itself, the voices of women and people of color are thoroughly intertwined throughout the text. AIDS is not merely a white man's disease.

And she includes some interesting pieces of political information along for the ride. Due to my young age, I had not paid close attention to politics when Reagan was in office. I now know he was extreme, but I was honestly shocked to realize that he had people like Gary Bauer (perhaps best known for involvement with the Family Research Council) serving in his White House administration--and in social policy positions.

Such an environment probably stalled the government's effective response to the emergent AIDS crisis. It did not actively address AIDS when the disease was percieved as something which would only strike a certain segment of the population--and one which the conservative administration did not care for.

I have great respect for former Surgeon General Koop. He was able to accomplish the work he did in such a trying work environment. Fear had placed presence over science in many a case. But he pressed on, undaunted and convinced that effective and practical education about AIDS needed priority.

... Read more

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Not long after becoming public health concerns in the 1980s, HIV and AIDS were featured in a number of works of fiction, though such titles were written primarily for adult readers. Mirroring the disease's indiscriminate nature, however, the subject would soon be incorporated into novels aimed at young adults. Despite a need for accessible information on the subject, it is difficult to identify fiction that contains material about HIV/AIDS, as these books are seldom catalogued for this content, nor is this content consistently acknowledged in published reviews.In HIV/AIDS in Young Adult Novels: An Annotated Bibliography, the authors address this gap by identifying and assessing the full range of young adult novels that include HIV/AIDS content. This resource is comprised of two major parts. The first part summarizes findings from a content analysis performed on novels written for readers aged 11-19, published since 1981, and featuring at least one character with HIV/AIDS. The second part is an annotated bibliography of the more than 90 novels identified for use in the study. Each entry in the bibliography contains an annotation that summarizes the plot and how HIV/AIDS is depicted in the story, an indication of the accuracy of the HIV/AIDS content, a note on how central HIV/AIDS is to the story, and an evaluation of the literary quality of the book. This work will assist readers in collecting, choosing, evaluating, and using these works to educate readers about HIV/AIDS. ... Read more

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The HIV and AIDS Bible: Selected Essays
Dube brings together thoughts and theories about fighting HIV and AIDS she has articulated in different contexts and the result is an illuminating text that presents in bold strokes, the social aspects of the disease and what biblical scholars and theologians can do about it. It is a great achievement. ... Read more

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A History of ACT UP
Gould, Deborah B. "Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS", University of Chicago Press, 2009.

A History of ACT UP

Amos Lassen

"Moving Politics" is a history of ACT UP but it is also more than that by challenging our understanding of the book. The book gives us the emotional background and the dynamics and dimension of a great struggle--the struggle to save lives. The author, Deborah Gould, places activism during the AIDS crisis within the social climate of the time and gives us the relationship between emotion and reason.
This is, as far as I know, the only history of ACT UP and it was certainly one of the defining moments in gay history when activism became so very important. One is certainly aware of the amount of research that went into this book and the analyses of that research is first rate. Gould shows us that it was the movement that caused action but there were other emotions that went into the movement-fear, rage and ambivalence, indignation and shame as well as eroticism and attraction as well a great deal of despair.
The ACT UP movement began in the late 80's and this was a defiant and a demanding movement. By the early 90's ACT UP no longer existed but the AIDS epidemic continued on. Gould uses interviews and extensive research and opinions she gives us the story of the rise and fall of ACT UP and shows how emotion played a fundamental role in the style of protest. In fact the book also shows us what the role of emotion is in politics in general and how important it is.

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Today, AIDS has been indelibly etched in our consciousness. Yet it was less than twenty years ago that doctors confronted a sudden avalanche of strange, inexplicable, seemingly untreatable conditions that signaled the arrival of a devastating new disease. Bewildered, unprepared, and pushed to the limit of their diagnostic abilities, a select group of courageous physicians nevertheless persevered. This unique collective memoir tells their story.Based on interviews with nearly eighty doctors whose lives and careers have centered on the AIDS epidemic from the early 1980s to the present, this candid, emotionally textured account details the palpable anxiety in the medical profession as it experienced a rapid succession of cases for which there was no clinical history. The physicians interviewed chronicle the roller coaster experiences of hope and despair, as they applied newly developed, often unsuccessful therapies. Yet these physicians who chose to embrace the challenge confronted more than just the sense of therapeutic helplessness in dealing with a disease they could not conquer.They also faced the tough choices inherent in treating a controversial, sexually and intravenously transmitted illness as many colleagues simply walked away.Many describe being gripped by a sense of mission:by the moral imperative to treat the disempowered and despised. Nearly all describe a common purpose, an esprit de corps that bound them together in a terrible yet exhilarating war against an invisible enemy.This extraordinary oral history forms a landmark effort in the understanding of the AIDS crisis.Carefully collected and eloquently told, the doctors' narratives reveal the tenacity and unquenchable optimism that has paved the way for taming a 20th-century plague. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good read
A engrossing chronicle of the anguish and triumphs of doctors on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic. The story goes beyond the medicine and the science to look at the mental, emotional and personal tolls the plague took on caregivers.

AIDS Doctors: A compelling story of doctors
When the AIDS epidemic first broke out in 1981, many doctors did not participate in the research, treatment, or hope for the disease.Those that did had their lives changed forever.These were the doctors who were not afraid of accepting patients whom they were not sure they could cure.This was a new and very different disease than any of these doctors had ever come in contact with, and to try and treat it was honorable and extremely optimistic.AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic is a book which captures the story of AIDS since it's very (known) existence in America from the viewpoint of AIDS doctors.

The authors Bayer and Oppenheimer interviewed 75 doctors, each with their own stories, for a total of 300 hours adding to research for the book.The doctors included researchers, doctors who treated AIDS patients, and directors of AIDS programs.Almost half of the doctors were gay, all of whom wanted to help their gay community find answers about why this epidemic was predominant in their community.The goal of Bayer and Oppenheimer was to write a book portraying the effects of AIDS on doctors, and how the doctors dealt with the epidemic on the emotional side.

The book was very emotional, with the doctors giving examples of interviews with patients which resulted in tears by both parties.Many of the doctors wrote about their patients' moving stories, while others wrote biographies.Even a few of the doctors interviewed were diagnosed with AIDS.Most of the doctors were still angry at the government and scientists for not taking a more proactive stance towards the disease when it was first introduced, and it showed through in their interviews.The hardest part was reading about other doctors who turned their back on these severely ill people because of their sexual orientation or lifestyle.The discrimination against the infected is revolting and a smudge among all of those in the scientific community who did not offer appropriate care.

I think that this book really shows a struggle between mankind and science.Many do not understand the true emotional side of the disease and the only people who really will know are those who are affected by AIDS and their doctors.Luckily for the rest of us, these two authors definitely capture the emotion.These exceptional doctors have devoted all of their commitment to a special cause, and in turn have been affected in every way of their lives by it.This book was exceptional as it showed the emotional side of doctors who put their lives forward for a seemingly hopeless cause.The book is very hard to read, and often needs to be put aside for a few days in order to recompose yourself.This is by far one of the most remarkable books I have read on the disease and deserves to sit with the rest of the award winning medical documentaries of our time.

AIDS Doctors- Fascinating History
The emergence of AIDS, a life-threatening disease, raised health care issues. As the disease was first identified in homosexuals and drug users, physicians refused to treat these patients. A surgeon, named Milwaukee stated in the book AIDS doctors: Voices from the Epidemic, "I've got to be selfish. It's an incurable disease that's uniformly fatal, and I'm constantly at risk for getting it. I've got to think about myself. I've got to think about my family. That responsibility is greater than to the patient." Fortunately, there were a group of doctors whose interviews and stories about their experience in the AIDS epidemic we can read in the book .There were 76 doctors who were interviewed, most were women and about forty percent were homosexuals. These doctors stepped up for the people whom they understood because of their same/similar sexual orientation, because they felt compelled to help, or a great opportunity to demonstrate their care for people.
The AIDS epidemic demonstrates to be difficult for the patient, their family, and the physician. Since the disease, AIDS, was identified in 1981 by the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the struggle to overcome the disease began. Also, the struggle to overcome discrimination from the exclusive thought that only homosexuals and drug users could get infected with AIDS began. The struggle was not left only for the person infected to fight, but the doctors who did not allowed the anxiety of not having a complete knowledge about the biology and infectivity of the disease to hold them back from helping, have now changed the situation. Now there have been many changes when one regards to AIDS. We are now more knowledgeable about the disease. After reading this book , the experiences that the doctors battled against, not knowing much about the disease and threatening their life by the possibility of being infected, we can see that without the courage of these doctors we would now not have as many advances as wehave. The intensity of the desire to help AIDS patients from the doctors can be seen by their involvement they still maintain today. It is known that physician Stosh Ostrow and Jerry Cade, as of 1999, served on the President' s Advisory Committee on AIDS. As the book states, although they were infected with AIDS, they still participated to not only help themselves but help others also with AIDS as they primarily wished for.
When reading this book we can now appreciate the advances made. Not only has discovered medication given many people infected with AIDS more years to live, as the book states, but we can also see the more hopeful benefits towards preventing the disease. From the beginning of the epidemic, the doctors interviewed were involved in learning about the disease. This involvement has now contributed to use the information investigated about the disease to produce a vaccine for AIDS. Although this information is not given in the book, the path towards the vaccine could have started thanks to the doctors who had the courage to treat and learn about AIDS.The vaccine has been under research for about fifteen years and if we continue to have the drive that the doctors had in the book, to help AIDS patients, the vaccine for AIDS will probably be found soon.

An Extraordinary Oral History
This book tells the history of the first 10 years of the AIDS epidemicthrough the voices of the women and men who overcame fear and channeledexcitement to treat people with this devastating illness.These caregivers built careers but also worried about the impact of HIV on their ownfamilies.Because this is a history told by thephysicians themselves,and is not just a history with occasional quotes, it has an immediacy andhumanity that is often lacking in histories.The authors briefly explaintheir technique of interviewing and selecting passages for the book. Despite the possibility of bias in presentation, because of the ability ofthe physicians to suppress their own words, thetensions, excitement,fear, pride, and love come through and make this a worthwhile book to read. Whether the reader is interested in the development of the epidemic or thepersonalities of the physicians who were active during those early years,s/he will be touched by this book. ... Read more

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AIDS has grown in just two decades from a rare disease to one that has already killed millions of men, women, and children worldwide. To help high school and college students understand the history and current status of AIDS as a social, political, psychological, public health, and cultural phenomenon, this documentary history provides 228 short and highly readable selections from primary and secondary sources of information about AIDS and HIV. Its scope covers the entire history of the epidemic from its beginnings to early 1997. The documents, many of which cannot easily be found elsewhere, will help the reader to understand and debate the many perspectives and points of view on this controversial topic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Totally exhausts AIDS as a social issue
This work has fully lifted the veil on AIDS. It has focused on the various dimensions in which mankind has had to cope with a disease whose method of transmission transcends cultural barriers. The addition of a ResourceDirectory highlights the need for networking in today's global environment. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

First rate (understatement)
The facts speak clearly: -

AIDS never spread into the hetero population.

People over 65 in both America and Canada get so called 'AIDS' three times MORE than teenagers. Hardly what you would expect from an std.

The mortality rate in South Africa from non natural causes is at exactly the same 2.2% PA level it was before 'AIDS'. How could all the old diseases simply vanish over night to be replace with a single syndrome?

Nothing about 'AIDS' makes sense and this book makes the point with great skill. A MUST READ.

A Most Thorough Debunking of the Virus/AIDS Hypothesis
Shenton's book is the best work I've read yet that questions the link between HIV (or ANY virus, for that matter)and AIDS.Anyone who reads this book will be utterly transfixed by it.It is both fascinating and frightening to read about the unanswered questions that continue to vex scientists, researchers and the like about the supposed link between HIV and AIDS.What is more frightening, however, is the extent to which these individuals will go to prevent these gaps in AIDS theory from becoming public knowledge, and how they refuse even to entertain any other possible explanation(s) for AIDS other than their precious "virus."Meanwhile, people continue dying.

Gives intelligent reader the knowledge to choose sides
Shenton's telling of a decade of investigation isa complementary part of the AIDS puzzle in main started and mostly filled in by scientists Robert Root-Bernstein and Peter Duesberg;- and Shenton journalistic comradessuch as Jad Adams and Michael Fumento.Deductive, objective analysis ofall the medical "reporting" of the AIDS statistics have alwaysled to the realization that "you can't get there from here" intrying to understand whatthe establishment (NIH, CDC, WHO, etc.) hasalmost successfully rammed down the throats of Americans, and in doing sohas killed tens to hundreds of thousands of patients decades before theirtime. The immense value of Shenton's work is that it is a lifesaving readfor those who want to make their own decisions when confronted by a bloodtest that comes back "positive" for HIV antibodies as one canthen refuse to be a fatal victim of the toxic therapy that is currently invogue, and in fact one can then proceed to take the proper steps to fullyrecovered health as pointed to by this book and the other authors citedabove. ... Read more

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Treating HIV with Nutrition

Nutrition and HIV addresses the issues of nutrition and HIV from the perspective of the patient as well as the physician. Everyone who is interested in the problems of--and solutions to--nutritional therapy in HIV owes it to themselves to read this book.
--Paul A. Volberding, M.D., director, Center for AIDS Research, San Francisco

This reference book offers a sound nutritional model for sustaining and improving quality of life for HIV positive men and women. It outlines an easy-to-follow program for the prevention and treatment of weight loss--a common problem that if left untreated could lead to serious health decline or even death.

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Customer Reviews (5)

Action planning -- help for the confused
The best thing about this book is that it directs itself to empowering the individual, and gives helpful checklists ("algorithms") to guide people who are HIV+ into being pro-active in caring for themselves.In working with people diagnosed with HIV, it becomes obvious that there is a great desire to "do something", and just as great a number of questions about exactly what it might be most effective to do. It is a gift to have lists like those in this book as a starting point which can be modified to suit the individual's personal needs and skills.Just the fact that there is definitely somewhere to start in planning to help oneself will be reassuring news to many!

Definitely a must have book!
This book helps affected/infected individual understand the nutritional needs of the body and also goes on to describe many other aspects of HIV.This book is definitely a must have for HIV+ individuals andcaregivers/supporters.

A must read for those with HIV & for their support system.
Dr.Romeyn has addressed one of the most serious problems facing people with HIV, the devastating bodily wasting that occurs in those struggling with the effects of this disease.Her work is a comprehensive approach tonutritional treatment. She is articulate and yet not patronizing.Herconcern and compassion for those who suffer from this dissease is quiteapparent. I believe those who see her in her private practice are mostfortunate.I am grateful for her work, and have given copies of this bookto several men and women both in the parish and in the community atlarge.There is a great need in the larger community for this quality ofinformation. I highly recommend it.

Good book, but...
This is an informative book. However, it did not meet my expectations.It even gets boring sometimes. However, it is a good book to have if you are interested in learning more about vitamins and minerals, and their effectwith HIV/AIDS.

excellent for physician, patient, or friend
I found this book to be an excellent resource to provide both an overview of the HIV/AIDS disease process, and to help formulate a plan for one's management and care. As a third year medical student, I am often presentedwith only the pathology and epidemiology of a disease or illness, and leftto invision the person afflicted on my own.Dr. Romeyn helped to put aface on both the person/patient affected, as well as the physician activelycaring for them.In addition, she still managed to convey the essentialsthat anyone - physician, patient, or friend - should know and understand.This is a very helpful book. ... Read more

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HIV/AIDS management poses many different challenges around the world, and the therapies available in the West are often not economically feasible in developing countries. This new book is the first to address the myriad of clinical difficulties faced by health practitioners worldwide in managing HIV/AIDS. Edited by the same authorities responsible for the highly respected reference "The Medical Management of AIDS," with Associate Editors that include the President of the International AIDS Society and a preeminent opinion leader in the fight against AIDS in Africa, and authored by a "who's who" of current global experts on HIV and AIDS medicine, this visionary text presents all the practical, indispensable information that clinicians everywhere need to offer their patients the best possible care.

• Access reliable, up-to-the-minute guidance that addresses the realities of HIV/AIDS management in your geographical region, thanks to contributions from a global cast of renowned expert clinicians and researchers.
• Locate the clinically actionable information you need quickly with an organization that mirrors the current state of the AIDS epidemic and the different needs of Western vs. developing-world patients and clinicians.
• Diagnose AIDS manifestations confidently by comparing them to full-color clinical images.
• Review essential data quickly through numerous at-a-glance tables.

Product Description
Maria Papagiannidou-St Pierre is a senior Greek journalist and ex-AIDS patient. Born in 1965, she was diagnosed "HIV positive" in 1985. From 1995 to 2005 she was a full-blown AIDS patient suffering horrifically from the side-effects of the medications, being sometimes told she had no more than a week to live.In 2006 she started the website www.hivwave.gr and married the Canadian "HIV negative" Gilles St Pierre. In 23 April 2007 she stopped taking the pills prescribed against AIDS, became strong again and regained the freedom we all lost in 1984.So, what had she suffered from, a deadly hoax? She began to research what had happened to her, met many who had questioned the HIV/AIDS dogma on her way, found the missing answers and now wants to shout out around the world: "The elaborate AIDS construction is built on a false foundation!" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great read! Eye opening book
This is a great book for someone who wants to get first hand info on what it is like to be a HIV patient. Its really an eye opening and begs one to ask more questions about this disease.
Great Job Maria, I hope that you continue on your new found path!

Cello music ...
Cello-Musik im unbewohnten Nebenraum ...
(Cello music in the unoccupied room next door ...)

That is the feeling I had while reading "Goodbye AIDS": Something unexpected, warm, magic. The AIDS doctors are criticised, but, with the exception of the few spin doctors, the author tries to explain their actions: medical doctors tend to believe in authority.

Nevertheless: It is deeply sad that so many patients, even pregnant women and newborn babies, are poisoned.

One minor "but": readers of this book should also read "Trick or Treatment" by Singh and Ernst; homeopathy and acupuncture should not be recommended.

this book is fantastic!
There is an AIDS establishment that is locked in on the idea that HIV causes AIDS and that it is an infection.

The trouble is, they are wrong! AIDS is not transmissible by body fluids like everyone has been taught. It is a result of malnutrition or toxic poisoning.

In this book we learn why the AIDS establishment won't come clean... they have killed too many with their 'medicines' ... more than 300,000 Americans alone.... and it is still happening.

This is a case where scientific facts are not as strong as the propaganda meme we have all been taught!

I've waited a quarter-century for someone to shout--Goodbye AIDS!
Maria Papagiannidou-St. Pierre is one of my heroes. Her story spans the three decades of AIDS. For two of those decades she was in the maw of the AIDS grinder, on her way to becoming another AIDS statistic. Everything the AIDS doctors told Maria was wrong. Everything they did to and "for" her was harmful. They would have eventually killed her and blamed her death on AIDS had it not been for her will to take back the authority and responsibility for her own life, strengthened by the love and gentle support of her husband-to-be.

"Goodbye AIDS: did it ever exist?" is the latest addition to Maria's literary arsenal in the war (for indeed it is a war) against the doctors of death. Her book provides support and comfort to the millions around the world who are desperate to escape the AIDS machine. "Goodbye AIDS" is one of the most succinct and powerful encapsulations you will find of what AIDS has become (outside of Africa). Maria's triumphant story is essential reading!

I close with a plea to those with the talent, the resources and above all, the courage, to make a movie of "Goodbye AIDS" so her story can touch millions.

David Rasnick, PhD

Board Member of Rethinking AIDS
Member of the South African AIDS Advisory Panel (2000-2008)

Resurrection!
Anyone who has begun to feel uneasy about, or, even, suspicious of the official orthodoxy on AIDS will find in this book an excellent starting point for further investigation. The author turns the tables on the implicit and, often, even explicit argument that persuades healthy individuals to submit themselves to chemical treatment only because they test positive, namely the precautionary approach: why take any chances by shunning treatment? Given the undeniable toxicity of the AIDS-drugs, as amply documented by the author, the question should be instead: why take any chances with these killers?
Everything in this book shines with genuineness, soul-to-soul directness and will be of great help both to HIV-positive readers who cannot accept that the black pit of hell is open at their feet and to readers who feel that, regardless of their test results, the virus, real or imagined, is eating away their sanity and its fear is wrecking human relations.
Ms Papagiannidou's poignant testimony of her repeated trips to the threshold of death during the years of her treatment and her joyous comeback after she turned away from the dogma and took control of her own life is made all the more inspiring by her identifying the root cause of this wonderful transformation: LOVE! ... Read more