AIDS Doctors

Ronald Bayer teaches at the Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Gerald Oppenheimer teaches at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.

"A detailed oral history of the first decades of the AIDS epidemic, told from the vantage point of the treating physician...A cold and revealing history of an American archetype, sure to appeal to readers whose lives have been affected by AIDS."--Kirkus Reviews"It deserves to sit on the bookshelf alongside the earlier classics of the epidemic."--The New York Times Book Review"AIDS, the most dreaded plague of our epoch, has found its heroes. In this stunning document, doctors, unsung and uncelebrated, are meeting this challenge. Bayer and Oppenheimer, two masterful interviewers, have sounded, in the words of these heroes, a note of hope and possible triumph."--Studs Turkel"AIDS Doctors is a captivating story that reads like a medical thriller. To hear the story from the point of view of those on the front line and to witness their anxieties and their transformation is truly unique. This book will not only be an important chronicle of the history of AIDS in this country, it will hopefully serve as inspiration for young people contemplating a career in medicine."--Abraham Verghese, author of My Own Country and The Tennis Partner"In the great tradition of Studs Terkel, Bayer and Oppenheimer offer us the opportunity to hear the determined voices of clinicians who stepped forward to care for those stricken with AIDS in the terrifying early years of the epidemic. The eloquence of these men and women, their courage and compassion, is a powerful reminder that in the midst of tragedy we sometimes find our humanity. This extraordinary book will constitute a critical document and guide as we construct a history of this ongoing and devastating epidemic."--Allan Brandt, Harvard University, author of No Magic Bullet: ASocial History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880