The end of innocence

by Simon Garfield

ISBN: 9780571371020

Published: 2021-12

** With a new introduction by Russell T Davies ** A new edition of the award-winning, ground-breaking account of the early AIDS crisis in Britain. "A remarkable journalistic achievement." -- Time Out "Powerful . . . Indispensable." -- Observer "Superb." -- London Review of Books Winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize How does a country control a virus that is killing increasing numbers of people? How does a government contain an epidemic spread by sex, drug use and blood products? And how does a population react when told that everyone is at risk from infection? By 1986, when the British Government woke up to the problem of AIDS, it estimated that 30,000 people had already been infected with HIV. Why was it so slow to act? Would the situation have been different if most of those affected had not been gay men? Award-winning journalist Simon Garfield presents a story of political intrigue, of panic and hysteria, of wasted opportunities and of a medical battle conducted against...