The Invisible People: How the U.S. Has Slept Through the Global AIDS Pandemic, the Greatest Humanitarian Catastrophe of Our Time

Here's a pop quiz. What is AIDS? Some replies - An illness. Treatable. Starts with HIV. Used to be a terrifying death sentence, but now it's under control. All true. But in this book, author Greg Behrman has some different responses to the same question: "What is AIDS?" Here are his answers: a cause of global terrorism; a time bomb; an unanswered moral challenge. These are all shocking words. What makes them so is a horrifying contrast - the disease called AIDS is a treatable illness, and it is also a death sentence. How can this be? The answer is two words: money and geography. If you live in the USA and the developed world, it's highly unlikely you'll die from the disease. If you live in Africa or India, you're doomed. In order to understand this frightening paradox, Greg Behrman has written a masterful and heartfelt book, a history with the facts laid bare. At school or for pleasure, most of us have read histories - of the Civil War, and other important events. We read about events that are done with, where the consequences of actions undertaken are known, where decisions and indecisions can be analyzed. It's a very different feeling to read - and, I imagine, to write - a history in the middle of the events you are describing. This is the huge task that Greg Behrman undertakes in a brilliant summary of the history of HIV/AIDS and what it means for the safety and the future of the USA and the world. Greg Behrman fiercely challenges the world's response to the AIDS epidemic - all that suffering that is so far away, so removed from our everyday lives. It's too hard to do anything about, so why not just ignore it? Behrman lays out a harsh and frightening overview. He is a brilliant, young policy researcher and analyst who sounds a warning that AIDS - "the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time" is also a national security threat to the USA. The AIDS epidemic is a time bomb because it can destabilize continents and destroy countries. However, on the evidence, he's going to have a hard time making his point, at least as long as Africa is seen as the main area scourged by AIDS. The disease isn't incurable - it just needs wealth and access to drugs. The ruling elites in Africa will get treatment, and the poor will suffer and die. Africans are already victims of the miseries of war, poverty and disease; very little is being done for them by the international community and even less by their own governments, with a couple of exceptions. Africa gets all the publicity because the continent is too weak to hide its sick and dying from the international community. The real danger lies in Russia, and to a lesser extent South East Asia. That is where instability can lead to terrorism and the collapse of economies. Russia, China and other semi-developed countries will continue to lie about their AIDS statistics because, like Africa, they can't do much to help the infected. It needs a very well developed government infrastructure to deliver healt

This was the most difficult book I read all year, of many that I read, bored at sea and often bored with the book in hand. Difficult because it poses a damning question about America and its policy priorities. Difficult because it carefully, throughly reveals to the reader with a fair eye how poorly the US (and world) response to the AIDS epidemic has been. There are villians and heroes (many heroes in fact), tragic figures and inspiring ones, but what remains throughout is the compassion the author gives them all. No one is villified by criticism in this book, their actions (and reasoning) speak louder than words, for better or worse. Difficult because it is just so damn heartbreaking and galling that we failed so miserably for 20 years. I don't like to see the US fail in anything, but I am afraid that we are failing and failing miserably in a war we are tepid about fighting. For this epidemic not to rip apart Russia, India and China the way it is ripping Africa apart now, more and more people will need to read this astonishing, revealing story of how the US nearly lost the war on AIDS before George W. Bush even started it in January 2003, so that we can learn from our past mistakes and not make them again. We can only hope Pres. Bush is learning from those mistakes so the massive amount of capital he is infusing into the fight (and more later) is not wasted. A must for anyone interested in international affairs, medicine, society (both in America and in the greater world), economics, history, politics and just about any other field that has any connection to this increasingly interconnected world.

No one can question Mr. Behrman's command of this subject as the reader walks through colorful personal accounts of the United States' action and lack of action in regards to the global AIDS epidemic over the last 20 years. But what this book does so well is provide a human element to each of the stories that allows the reader to connect to the plight of the activist and, more importantly, the devastation felt by so many mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers who innocently and unnecessarily fall victim to this pandemic. "The Invisible People" is a well-crafted narrative that forces the reader to recognize that we can no longer passively isolate ourselves into two camps, "affected" and "not affected." We must stand outstretched between the two as we strive to redefine one camp, "no risk of being affected." An amazing feat by Mr. Behrman. This work stands as an incredible tribute to the victims of the AIDS epidemic; do your part and read it today.

The Preface of this book alone will shock most readers, even those--including myself--who, prior to reading this book, THINK they know about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. For example, currently there are over 8,000 AIDS deaths every day, totaling approximately 25 million so far--more than the ALL the deaths of ALL the wars of the twentieth century--COMBINED. The primary theme throughout Invisible People is how at each critical juncture the ignorance and inaction of political leaders has encouraged the virus to thrive and spread, unnecessarily infecting and killing millions. I am not the first nor the last to say that history will one day show that the HIV/AIDS pandemic will be the defining health and humanitarian issue--if not the single most important issue--of our time. Our descendants will no doubt look back and wonder why so little was done so late in the face of such a horrible tragedy. While the shear amount of information is at times daunting, Behrman skillfully weaves a story of the pandemic and its activists, scientists, politicians, and victims that reads like a novel.

Greg Behrman's Invisible People is a riveting, well-written account of how the AIDS epidemic has shaped the global landscape. Personally, I was astounded by the statistics in the preface --25 million dead, 40 million currently infected, 8,000 people dying of AIDS every day--and gripped by Behrman's description of the heroes and villians in our battle against one of the greatest killers the world has ever known. This is an important book.