Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis

by Jennifer Brier

Overview

Viewing contemporary history from the perspective of the AIDS crisis, Jennifer Brier provides rich, new understandings of the United States' complex social and political trends in 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. 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807895474
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jennifer Brier is assistant professor of gender and women's studies and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This important book provides a rich history of the AIDS pandemic and its place in U.S. politics. Brier uncovers curious alliances—and furious debates—among activists, policy makers, and philanthropists, and along the way she reshapes our understanding of the 1980s, conservatism and left-liberalism, poverty and public health, and feminist and gay liberation movements. Highly recommended.—Joanne Meyerowitz, author of How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States

Brier's careful research into the 1980-2000 period contests the popularized history of the AIDS epidemic that has helped justify a neoliberal policy frame for AIDS in the U.S. She adds to the historical record by explicitly treating the relationship between early AIDS activism and gay liberation, by drawing out the influence of (and backlash against) the reproductive rights movement on AIDS policy, and by showing the inter-relationship and transformation of local AIDS politics and global anti-AIDS efforts. The book is very well researched and beautifully written.—Cindy Patton, Simon Fraser University

Brier's exploration of the AIDS crisis disrupts conventional historical narratives and demonstrates how the history of sexuality is always a history of politics, the economy, and culture. Her brilliant approach places this book on the cutting edge of American history work that seeks to place the U.S. in a global context.—Leisa D. Meyer, College of William and Mary

Editorial Reviews

There is no comparable book on the market that ties an event such as the AIDS crisis to the historical/political landscape nor one that shows the impact of a disease such as AIDS on government and politics.—Doody Enterprises

This is an important addition to the literature on AIDS. . . . The chapter on Reagan alone, with excellent original source material, is worth the price of admission.—Windy City Times

Offers a more comprehensive and complex understanding of how marginalized communities engaged the state of neglect by linking the politics of sexuality to politics, culture, and the economy, thereby shaping the political landscape. . . . Thoroughly researched. . . . An insightful analysis.—Choice

Places recent social, cultural, and political events in a new light, making an important contribution to our understanding of the US at the end of the 20th century.—Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment

Helps readers make sense of political history as more than just red or blue states. . . . Redefines our understanding of the mainstream. . . . Read it.—Journal of American History

Any historian studying this period would do well to read Jennifer Brier's Infectious Ideas, which uses AIDS as a lens through which to view the period.—History News Network

A compelling history of health politics in a critical decade.—Global Public Health

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Carole A. Kenner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, ANEF (The College of New Jersey)
Description: The author links the AIDS crisis to the changing political climate globally in order to make the case that diseases such as AIDS also affect politics, at least in America.
Purpose: The book discusses the social and political trends of the 1960s on through the 1990s, focusing on the conservatism of the government and society in the 1980s and how this shaped the debates about AIDS and turned AIDS into a sexual political hot potato. The changes in the response to the AIDS crisis in turn shaped the political landscape.
Audience: While the audience is not clearly stated, it appears to include any health policy, policy, or health professional student or lay person who is interested in the relationship between politics and a response to a healthcare problem.
Features: The book moves from outlining the gay liberation movement to social marketing of safe sex to the role of the federal government, in particular the Reagan years, and how conservatism held back the response to AIDS. The role of a private foundation such as Ford in Brazil illustrates how philanthropy supported research to examine the social impact of AIDS and the demographics of the victims of AIDS. This support tied the mission of Ford to find solutions to social and political problems created by poverty. These efforts then led to more social and political movements such as U.S. women's magazines getting involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS, followed by discussions of the economic impact of medical ignorance. Health policy changes followed and are outlined in the final chapter, using South Africa as an example. This book provides evidence to support the links between politics and responses to AIDS, demonstrating what effect each side had on the other.
Assessment: There is no comparable book on the market that ties an event such as the AIDS crisis to the historical/political landscape nor one that shows the impact of a disease such as AIDS on government and politics.

Doody's Review Service