The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS

by Elizabeth Pisani (Goodreads author)
The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS
book data
126 ratings, 4.01 average rating, 47 reviews (more data...)
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published
June 2nd 2008 by W. W. Norton

binding
Hardcover, 288 pages

isbn
0393066622    (isbn13: 9780393066623)

description
A flame-throwing epidemiologist talks about sex, drugs, and the mistakes (dismal), ideologies (vicious), and hopes (realistic) of international AIDS p...more




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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 304)

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Mark Desrosiers
01/25/09
Mark Desrosiers rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: sex
Read in January, 2009
She gets the boring stuff out of the way first -- a tour of U.N. bureaucracies and statistics-gathering methods -- before setting off on what amounts to a galloping rant about common knowledge, our perception, of AIDS and why it spreads. Lots of received wisdom gets demolished here -- I felt pretty much like an idiot at some points. For example, she evaporates the widespread trust in "peer advocacy" by citing a personal anecdote in which a skeletal, angry, dying "AIDS counselor"...more
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Kerry
09/01/08
Kerry rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in August, 2008
recommends it for: Folks interested in Public Health, Development and HIV/AIDS
This book is an epidemiologist's take on conducting field work for AIDS research. She is candid about her experience and the lessons that the various people she encounters from all types of various backgrounds have to teach her and her colleagues about society, common sense and practical matters.

I didn't quite manage to get through the whole book before I had to return it to the library.

The accounts range from humorous to maddening and frustrating. It offers hope th...more
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Stephy
03/06/09
Stephy rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in October, 2008
Having been on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic in the United States when it was still called GRID, (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) I have watched in stunned horror as our Government refused to earmark money for AIDS education and research, and limited money to countries that were, sensibly enough, distributing condoms to sex workers and people with multiple partners.
I have been far too close to the actuality of people dying to stand back and get this broad overview. I'm delighted tha...more
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Feminist Review
01/10/09
Feminist Review rated it: 4 of 5 stars

The arrival in 1994 of HIV and AIDS to the London School of Hygiene's curriculum led Elizabeth Pisani, a former journalist and scholar of classical Chinese, to contemplate "a career in sex and drugs." The Wisdom of Whores recounts her work for (and increasingly against) the funding and technical juggernauts of UNAIDS, Family Health International (FHI), the World Bank, the WHO, and the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in defining and surveilling upon HIV and AIDS. Pis...more
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Tera
05/21/08
Tera rated it: 3 of 5 stars

A wonderful informative and actually entertaining book on a subject that you would imagine to be dry and depressing. Elizabeth has a great voice and allows personality and humanity to take hold of the subject matter rather than an bury the reader with mind numbing facts.
Perhaps if the subject matter was dealt with in our communities, schools and even homes with the same informative yet humanizing approach progress would be more than a goal.
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Christina
12/29/08
Christina rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Pisani gives an interesting perspective to the business of AIDS. She is a journalist turned epidemiologist. She explains how politics, ideology, and theology prevent AIDS funds from being used to prevent infections in people most at risk; prostitutes, men who have sex with men, and injectors . Her argument is not focused on AIDS in Africa but she does highlight that there everyone is at risk. She argues against viewing AIDS only as a development problem. She describes strings atta...more
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Caty Simon
12/13/08
Caty Simon rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in December, 2008
recommended to Caty by: Tracy Quan
First off, go to the author's cool website---wwww.wisdomofwhores.com. She has great links to sex work movement stuff, & amazing stories you can't get elsewhere, like the new trend of older heterosexual white women sex tourists in Kenya, or banned Durex commercials, or urban legends about African women literally "boovytrapping" men by dousing their chests with chloroform (uuuhhhh, if this were actually happening, wouldn't the women pass out as well?)
I didn't always agree and some...more
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irwan
12/27/08
irwan rated it: 4 of 5 stars

bookshelves: social-sciences
Saya baca terjemahannya yang terbit bersamaan dengan edisi Inggrisnya. Sebuah buku yang menarik karena informatif dan provokatif, terutama bagi mereka yang berkecimpung dalam isu HIV/AIDS. Karena ditulis dengan gaya bahasa populer -- penulisnya ahli epidemiologi dan mantan jurnalis -- maka orang awam lebih mudah mengerti ketika membaca tentang angka-angka hasil survei tentang AIDS. Penulis melontarkan sejumlah argumen yang asik untuk diperdebatkan misalnya tentang penggunaan kondom, meningkatnya...more
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Elizabeth
06/05/08
Elizabeth rated it: 5 of 5 stars

I wrote this book so of course I think it's fantastic. But if you want more objective opinions, you will find all reviews so far (good and bad) at http://www/the-wisdom.com/reviews
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Sharon
03/29/09
Sharon rated it: 3 of 5 stars

Read in April, 2009
This was a very interesting and well-written book, a fun look at the world of AIDS research, if you'd believe it. I learned a lot about the international public policy system, and a lot about prostitution and the underworld in different Asian countries.

The only drawback to the book is something you can't blame the author for--you can't help but get bogged down in long organization names, acronyms, amounts of money. Describing international politics inevitably results in long para...more
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Lindsay
12/28/08
Lindsay rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2009
recommends it for: People interested in public health & sex research
Overall I think it's a pretty good book and something worthwhile for anyone interested in HIV to read. My main criticisms have to do with her analysis of many of the conclusions she draws from her work. I think I can best summarize my thoughts in a few points...

Chapters 1-3 were really good. The middle and end were hit and miss. I think the main reason behind this is because Pisani is trained as an epidemiologist (and apparently in medical demography which draws a lot on epi) and N...more
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David
10/05/08
David rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Like most books, it could have been shorter and more tightly edited IMO, but very interesting perspective on the science and politics of HIV/AIDS prevention from someone who's been on the front lines.

She does a nice job of detailing how the development/international aid politics interfere with doing what might make the most sense from a public health/epidemiology perspective. Actually the last chapter summarizes her analysis quite well, whereas the preceding chapters elaborating the...more
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Kristen
07/21/08
Kristen marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read
recommended to Kristen by: Joe
I just got an email from a friend with the following review of this book written by Stephen Lewis. It sounds like a must-read.

"This is an utterly fascinating book. I must admit that it's been growing on me since I read it, the arguments and language reverberating in my mind. Elizabeth Pisani writes with enormous verve and acerbity, her prose alive with anecdote and metaphor. There is, to be sure, a certain adolescent touch, delighting in naughty words and vivid sexual description...more
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Andrea
05/07/08
Andrea rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in June, 2008
In this surprisingly lively, funny and fast paced book Pisani combines reporting and memoir to introduce readers to the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS. The book is a paean to the civil servants, scientists, activists and PLWAH (People Living With AIDS/HIV) she has worked with over the course of her career as an epidemiologist. However Pisani’s ultimate purpose is to explain why it is that although AIDS now attracts billions of dollars in aid, and is the focus of countless NGOs, governments and found...more
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Sarah
03/09/09
Sarah rated it: 5 of 5 stars


Fasinating look into sexual politics. Pisani is razor sharp and a refreshing first-hand witness to real life sexual practices and attitudes that aren't reported by even the most "enlightened" documentators, such as the World Health Organization.

It seems we still don't have the will or the vocabulary to name what people really do.

Pisani's blog is worth checking out as well: www.wisdomofwhores.com
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Caroline
03/31/09
Caroline rated it: 5 of 5 stars

Read in March, 2009
You should read this book. That's what we read these reviews for, right? This book is worth your time and you will learn something. Beyond that, it is well written, highly entertaining and very worthwhile. Not many epidemiologists are capable of producing something entertaining, so this is a particularly good find.

9/52/2009
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Alyssa Banotai
04/26/09
Alyssa Banotai rated it: 5 of 5 stars

After reading this, I wished to be an epidemiologist. Seriously. Pisani is witty, knowledgeable and reminds me of Laurie Garrett as far as readable public health journalists go. Anyway, it's an eye-opener about the dire state of global AIDS and the drawbacks of morality-based funding by government agencies and politicians.
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Alicia
07/01/08
Alicia rated it: 5 of 5 stars

The author started life as a journalist and later, became an an epidemiologist researching AIDS. She has worked for a variety of NGO's and has seen the programs around the world that have worked and those that have not. Again she has more to say but the important point I took from this book is that until the US (and other countries) stop putting restrictions on this money, especially in not allowing a program to give out condoms and needles, the battle to stop the HIV virus will be a losing one....more
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Andrea
06/24/09
Andrea rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in June, 2009
This was a surprisingly easy and interesting read for a book that's written by an epidemiologist about an incredibly complicated and intense issue. It was a huge eye opener, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the AIDS "industry".
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Suj1980
02/05/09
Suj1980 rated it: 4 of 5 stars

Read in January, 2009
Lots of good stuff for epi people to think over. Perhaps too many TMI moments in this one, but aside from those moments are some pretty compelling arguments for the poor manner in which HIV programs are designed and funded.
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Wisdom of Whores (Hardcover)
Kearifan Pelacur: Kisah Gelap di Balik Bisnis Seks dan Narkoba (Paperback)
The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS (Paperback)
The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS (Paperback)
The Wisdom of Whores (Hardcover)







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