AIDS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS

Name: AIDS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS
Author: Peter Piot
ISBN: 978-0-231-16626-3

by Peter Piot translated by Laurence Garey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2015

Somewhat arid, as medical policy works tend to be, but of considerable use to readers with an interest in public health...

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Adaption of a lecture series at the Collège de France by Piot (No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, 2012, etc.), the founding executive director of the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Though that series dates back five years, the author’s findings, updated to 2012, should give anyone pause who thinks that AIDS is a thing of the past. New antiretrovirals exist, but these are mostly available to consumers in developed nations. As Piot notes, in 2012, more than 1.6 million people died of AIDS, most “in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is the first cause of death in about half the countries.” Those figures alone make AIDS the worst pandemic since the Spanish flu of 1918-1921, but international agencies have much to be proud of, since the epidemic did indeed bring about unprecedented global cooperation—and especially global funding, which amounted to $15 billion in 2012. Even so, serious challenges remain. The epidemiology, writes the author, is difficult, since the highest risk populations in much of sub-Saharan Africa are “men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and mobile populations,” people who for various reasons are difficult to monitor, with the result that “efforts to control an epidemic will be inadequate.” Efforts at doing just that have had some success, however. The spread of AIDS in Southeast Asia mostly happened in the realm of commercial sex, but campaigns for universal condom use have yielded a near-complete end to that source of transmittal. Unexpectedly, Piot adds, in some parts of the world, the epidemic has helped give voice to the voiceless, including marginalized populations, sex workers among them.

Somewhat arid, as medical policy works tend to be, but of considerable use to readers with an interest in public health issues.

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-231-16626-3

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Columbia Univ.

Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.