This focus is why the sections on Darwin are successful. Part of the AIDS story is the co-evolution of humans and viruses; Darwin began to make those connections, and science's understanding of this interrelationship is still growing. (Witness research on sickle cell anemia and malaria or cystic fibrosis and typhoid.)
When Hunter's book veers into the fictionalized stories of Robina, Pauline and Molly, three Ugandans dealing with the impact of AIDS on their communities, it loses some of its credibility. The stories feel forced and artificial. If they've been put there to make the information more human, they didn't work, at least not for me. These sections could safely have been removed entirely, without detriment to the book, which takes a macro view of the AIDS crises. If a micro perspective was truly deemed necessary, real stories should have been used.
In the time that it takes to read this review, 24 people will have been infected with HIV, most of whom will develop AIDS within the next 15 years. There is no shortage of personal stories, of those with the illness, their families, their neighbors, their friends.
The AIDS crisis in Africa is going to have serious implications in the generations to come. The numbers of orphans are increasing. Workforces are losing their most productive laborers. Social structures are eroding and evolving to deal with the effects of the disease. Testing, treatment and even simple prevention mechanisms (ie, condoms) are sporadically available. Education is patchy, and sometimes contradicted by authority figures from government and religious bodies. Africa is being changed by this disease and the impact will be felt worldwide. Our reaction to this crisis will be judged by history. Hunter wants to know: Are we going to correct past mistakes and apply the knowledge gained from cholera, the Black Plague, typhus, smallpox and other epidemics? Or will we make the same mistakes twice?
Edited: PC
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