AIDS and Contemporary History

A collection of essays on the 'pre-history' of the impact of AIDS, and its subsequent history.

Virginia Berridge (Edited by), Philip Strong (Edited by)

9780521521147, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 August 2002

300 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.44 kg

The advent of AIDS has led to a revival of interest in the historical relationship of disease to society. There now exists a new consciousness of AIDS and history, and of AIDS itself as an historic event. This provides the starting-point of this collection of essays. Its twin themes are the 'pre-history' of the impact of AIDS, and its subsequent history. Essays in the section on the 'pre-history' of AIDS analyse the contexts against which AIDS should be measured. The section on AIDS as history presents chapters by historians and policy scientists on such topics as British and US drugs policy, the later years of AIDS policies in the UK and the emergence of AIDS as a political issue in France. A final chapter looks at the archival potential in the AIDS area. As a whole the volume demonstrates the contribution that historians can make in the analysis of near-contemporary events.

Acknowledgements
Introduction: AIDS and contemporary history Virginia Berridge
Part I. The Pre-history of AIDS: 1. AIDS and the regulation of sexuality Jeffrey Weeks
2. Public health doctors and AIDS as a public health issue Jane Lewis
3. Politics and policy: historical perspectives on screening Bridget Towers
4. Testing for a sexually transmissible disease, 1907–1970: the history of the Wassermann reaction Ilana Löwy
5. The politics of international co-ordination to combat sexually transmitted diseases, 1900–1980s Paul Weindling
6. Hepatitis B as a model (and anti-model) for AIDS William Muraskin
Part II. AIDS as History: 7. AIDS and British drug policy: continuity or change? Virginia Berridge
8. The New York needle trial: the politics of public health in the age of AIDS Warwick Anderson
9. Context for a new disease: aspects of biomedical research policy in the United States before AIDS Victoria A. Harden and Dennis Rodrigues
10. The NHS responds to HIV/AIDS Ewan Ferlie
11. A fall in interest? British AIDS policy, 1986–1990 John Street
12. AIDS policies in France Monika Steffen
Appendix: AIDS: the archive potential Janet Foster
Index.

Subject Areas: HIV / AIDS [MJCJ2], History of medicine [MBX], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Social & cultural history [HBTB]