SOURCE: "A Novelistic History of the AIDS Epidemic Demeans Both Investigators and Patients," in Scientific American, Vol. 259, No. 4, October, 1988, pp. 148-51.

In the following review of And the Band Played On, Blattner contends that Shilts's presentation of facts surrounding the scientific response to AIDS in the United States is unsound, asserting: "In addressing the scientific response to AIDS, [Shilts's discussion is simplistic and his antiestablishment biases lead to a distorted perception of reality."]

Major events in human history tend to spawn their chroniclers: the Trojan War inspired Homer, the decadence of the Roman Empire was chronicled in the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter and its decline was analyzed by Gibbon. The AIDS pandemic also promises to take a major place in the history of our species, but it has not yet attracted a recorder of classic stature. This circumstance has left the field to Randy Shilts, a determined reporter...