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Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis
Viewing contemporary history from the perspective of the AIDS crisis, Jennifer Brier provides rich, new understandings of the United States' complex social and political trends in the post-1960s era. Brier describes how AIDS workers--in groups as disparate as the gay and lesbian press, AIDS service organizations, private philanthropies, and the State Department--influenced American politics, especially on issues such as gay and lesbian rights, reproductive health, racial justice, and health care policy, even in the face of the expansion of the New Right. Infectious Ideas places recent social, cultural, and political events in a new light, making an important contribution to our understanding of the United States at the end of the twentieth century.
310 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 16, 2014
Infectious Ideas is a look back at the history of the politics and activism of the AIDS crisis, particularly from the early '80s to mid-90's. It does a terrific job of highlighting the class, gender, and race limitations of early outreach, demonstrating not just that the failure to reach these groups wasn't PC but that it also impeded addressing the crisis.
An equally critical eye is fixed upon the gay community organizations, political administrations (Reagan and Clinton in particular), global organizations like the Ford Foundation, and later domestic activist groups such as Act Up.
All told, it's a very thorough look at a time that I lived through, but was largely too young to have any idea of what was going on or its political and public health ramifications. It also serves as a good collection of lessons learned from a health crisis that went from unknown to epidemic to treatable within a couple of decades.
The main downside is that the book reads like someone's PhD dissertation, which it may well have been; while particularly the middle chapters are engaging, like when the book is addressing how the gay community failed to include and address the needs of PoCs, or the political fractures and contradictions within the Reagan administration on how to deal with the crisis, I got lost in the details elsewhere.
An equally critical eye is fixed upon the gay community organizations, political administrations (Reagan and Clinton in particular), global organizations like the Ford Foundation, and later domestic activist groups such as Act Up.
All told, it's a very thorough look at a time that I lived through, but was largely too young to have any idea of what was going on or its political and public health ramifications. It also serves as a good collection of lessons learned from a health crisis that went from unknown to epidemic to treatable within a couple of decades.
The main downside is that the book reads like someone's PhD dissertation, which it may well have been; while particularly the middle chapters are engaging, like when the book is addressing how the gay community failed to include and address the needs of PoCs, or the political fractures and contradictions within the Reagan administration on how to deal with the crisis, I got lost in the details elsewhere.
February 25, 2016
If you have always known that the Reagan administration's response to AIDS sucked but couldn't quite articulate the finer points of why, Brier's excellent account of the era will provide both the language and history. When no palatable medical models existed as a response to AIDS, the issue became inherently political but dichotomous political frameworks emerged on both the Right and Left and it became a debate about "personal responsibility" vs "freedom of choice" and "family values" vs "sexual liberation" narratives. Brier provides interesting insight into the difficulties of incorporating sexuality into a working public health model of care. Such tensions are still pertinent today: how, and to what extent, do we regulate health risk?
April 15, 2026
reread for comps
February 26, 2010
From the early appearance of AIDS as deviant in conservative America in the early 1980s to a full blown global battle in the 2000s, Infectious Ideas charts the activism behind the disease and how it never once wasn’t a political problem. What readers will learn with this book is that knowledge of the disease evolved alongside activist work. The origin, treatment, and likely victims of AIDS were all unknown in the early ‘80s when gay men and Haitian immigrants began to contract HIV. As a result societal scapegoating occurred and the government all but ignored the problem. Despite this, Brier shows how gay men unified to change habits, start dialogues about safe sex, and change public health policy.
With little or no experience in the health field, many early activist groups looked to the gay liberation movement of the 1970s for inspiration. As a result, racial and class discrepancies appeared as activist researchers began to realize that the highest at-risk groups were poor men of color who didn’t necessarily identify with the gay and lesbian community. San Fransisco activists worked to overcome what Brier calls “imperialism of expertise” by changing their campaigns to appeal to Latino and Black communities. Altering their way of thinking of how AIDS affects people proved vital for the moment and future efforts of global activists.
While modifying their approaches, American activists were also fighting another battle. Until the late 1980s they were essentially doing what the federal government should have been doing: informing people, promoting healthy prevention habits and working towards a treatment. However, ideological differences with the Reagan administration kept them from gaining governmental support. Instead of listening to activists with four years experience fighting the disease, the government was persuaded by internal politicians who didn’t condone condoms but rather (shockingly) chastity, fidelity and sex within marriage.
Brier positively notes that the lack of governmental support allowed for other groups to grow in more innovative arenas. She credits the Ford Foundation with raising awareness that AIDS was not simply a disease affecting gay and immigrants populations, but one that affected impoverished women in developing countries. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Ford Foundation focused on efforts in Brazil, Haiti, Thailand and Africa. They maintained a clear mission to “make woman’s rights human rights”. Three of the four countries that received the most funding saw significant drops in the number of new cases of AIDS.
The foundation's work strengthened the relationship between the Northern, developed world and the Southern, impoverished one. It also showed that attention to women’s rights, fighting poverty, and facing health issues overall is the most effective approach to prevent the spread of AIDS. As research continued to find medication to treat the disease, activists in the United States began to fight large pharmaceutical companies for affordable access to treatment, most notably through the work of ACT UP. Eventually disbanding due to internal problems, the group had five short but potent years which completely changed the U.S. response to drug testing and availability of medication.
Brier provides a unique account of the initial social response to AIDS in the 1980s and how it often preceded any political answers—a trend that continued into the early 1990s and today. Her book shows how we have arrived to where we are today in the fight against AIDS and what we can learn from the battles of the past.
Review by Sara Custer
With little or no experience in the health field, many early activist groups looked to the gay liberation movement of the 1970s for inspiration. As a result, racial and class discrepancies appeared as activist researchers began to realize that the highest at-risk groups were poor men of color who didn’t necessarily identify with the gay and lesbian community. San Fransisco activists worked to overcome what Brier calls “imperialism of expertise” by changing their campaigns to appeal to Latino and Black communities. Altering their way of thinking of how AIDS affects people proved vital for the moment and future efforts of global activists.
While modifying their approaches, American activists were also fighting another battle. Until the late 1980s they were essentially doing what the federal government should have been doing: informing people, promoting healthy prevention habits and working towards a treatment. However, ideological differences with the Reagan administration kept them from gaining governmental support. Instead of listening to activists with four years experience fighting the disease, the government was persuaded by internal politicians who didn’t condone condoms but rather (shockingly) chastity, fidelity and sex within marriage.
Brier positively notes that the lack of governmental support allowed for other groups to grow in more innovative arenas. She credits the Ford Foundation with raising awareness that AIDS was not simply a disease affecting gay and immigrants populations, but one that affected impoverished women in developing countries. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Ford Foundation focused on efforts in Brazil, Haiti, Thailand and Africa. They maintained a clear mission to “make woman’s rights human rights”. Three of the four countries that received the most funding saw significant drops in the number of new cases of AIDS.
The foundation's work strengthened the relationship between the Northern, developed world and the Southern, impoverished one. It also showed that attention to women’s rights, fighting poverty, and facing health issues overall is the most effective approach to prevent the spread of AIDS. As research continued to find medication to treat the disease, activists in the United States began to fight large pharmaceutical companies for affordable access to treatment, most notably through the work of ACT UP. Eventually disbanding due to internal problems, the group had five short but potent years which completely changed the U.S. response to drug testing and availability of medication.
Brier provides a unique account of the initial social response to AIDS in the 1980s and how it often preceded any political answers—a trend that continued into the early 1990s and today. Her book shows how we have arrived to where we are today in the fight against AIDS and what we can learn from the battles of the past.
Review by Sara Custer
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews