Anthony Daniels
Viral Theories
The Origins of AIDS
By Jacques Pepin
Cambridge University Press 250pp £45
Returning from a visit to Haiti only a few years into the AIDS epidemic, I was taken ill with a mysterious fever and admitted to an infectious diseases unit where all the other patients had AIDS. The staff walked about in what looked like spacesuits, terrified of contamination by the patients, including me. In the event, I had a banal viral illness probably transmitted by mosquito; but my experience was powerfully indicative of the fear that the epidemic raised even among the sophisticated before its mode of communication was thoroughly elucidated. A couple of years later I observed with astonishment, and not a little disdain, a senior medical colleague of mine refuse to enter a room occupied by a patient who had AIDS.
In this book, Jacques Pepin, an infectious diseases physician from Canada who worked early in his career in rural Zaire, traces the biological and epidemiological origins of what he calls the worst pandemic since the Black Death (though possibly the Spanish Flu at the end of the First
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Of the siblings Gwen and Augustus John, it is Augustus who has commanded most attention from collectors and connoisseurs.
Was he really the finer artist, asks Tanya Harrod, or is it time Gwen emerged from her brother’s shadow?
Tanya Harrod - Cut from the Same Canvas
Tanya Harrod: Cut from the Same Canvas - Artists, Siblings, Visionaries: The Lives and Loves of Gwen and Augustus John by Judith Mackrell
literaryreview.co.uk
As Apple has grown, one country above all has proved able to supply the skills and capacity it needs: China.
What compromises has Apple made in its pivot east? @carljackmiller investigates.
Carl Miller - Return of the Mac
Carl Miller: Return of the Mac - Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee
literaryreview.co.uk
We are saddened to hear of the death of Edmund White.
We've lifted the paywall on Richard Davenport-Hines's 2014 review of White's Paris memoir.
Richard Davenport-Hines - Scenes from a Literary Life
Richard Davenport-Hines: Scenes from a Literary Life - Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris by Edmund White
literaryreview.co.uk