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 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Pisani
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.49
You Save: $10.46 (40%)
New (33) Used (6) from $15.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 16914
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.4
ISBN: 0393066622
Dewey Decimal Number: 614.599392
EAN: 9780393066623
ASIN: 0393066622
Publication Date: June 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081008211534T
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| Customer Reviews:
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Superb! An excellent book for the layman and scholar June 2, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Dr. Pisani is a rarity in that she is a scientist who can write! She is a former journalist turned epidemiologist (aka "epi")working in AIDs research amd prevention. Her book will interest not just those readers concerned with AIDs, but anyone who wants to understand the effect politicians and bureaucrats and competing NGOs(Non-government orgaizaions) have on public health. Often only scientists and academics can grasp the process and explanation of scientific research. Dr. Pisani explains it so clearly that the general reader will understand as well. However, she hasn't "dumbed down' the scientific research process and data analysis. Through out this excellent book she shows a deep respect for the intelligence of her reader. No matter what opinion someone has regarding AIDs and its victims, this book will help improve understanding of the disease, its transmissions, the risks of being infected, and how its spread could be stopped. The title may be shocking, but sometimes it take a shock to get many of us to pay attention. Buy this book! Once you start reading you will not put it down until you reach the final page!
Raking through the muck of the AIDS industry May 30, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
If Michael Moore were to dress up in women's clothing and prowl through the red-light districts of Jakarta, we might get a book similar to "The Wisdom of Whores." But this author not only has Moore's street smarts and a lively writing style, she also has a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology. Elizabeth Pisani knows whereof she speaks, because she has spent years on the streets and in the dingy bars where AIDS futures are traded.
"Whores" is one of a rare species of book such as Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" or Jessica Mitford's "The American Way of Death" that has the power to reform an industry. In this case, the author exposes the AIDS prevention industry that sprang up when First World governments started to shovel money into the vital struggle against the HIV retrovirus. Or at least, that's where they should have shoveled it. If you think that the U.S. Government's emphasis on chastity over latex is a great way to spend your tax dollars, you definitely need to read this book.
I was particularly interested in learning why the AIDS epidemic in Asia has not taken off with the same alacrity as it did in South and East Africa.
Elizabeth Pisani may resemble one of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's ethereal Pre-Raphaelite models, but she talks about sex, drugs, and AIDS in the language of her subjects: the sex workers of Indonesia, China, East Timor, and Africa (foreskin soup, anyone?). She describes how governments are wasting billions of AIDS dollars on "schoolgirls and housewives and Boy Scouts" when they should be concentrating on preventive measures for the people who are actually at risk for this deadly disease: "junkies and gay guys and the people who buy and sell sex."
If you are someone who believes that "junkies and gay guys and the people who buy and sell sex" are getting what they deserve, this author has a message for you, too: remember who is infecting the housewives, Boy Scouts, and even the unborn children. The HIV-positive carrier could be your boyfriend, your sister, or your grandchild. Is there anyone in this 21st century without a friend or relative who is infected with this deadly retrovirus?
Some people may object to the frank language of `Whores.' Others may object to its message that condoms will do more to limit the spread of AIDS than misguided attempts at abolishing the sex trade. Most of us will have our eyes opened on what really needs to be done with our tax dollars in order to mitigate the worldwide AIDS crisis.
Review copy supplied by author
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