Thorns on the Rose: The History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Australia in International Perspective

Thorns on the Rose: The History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Australia in International Perspective

Australian Government Publishing Service, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601 AUSTRALIA. 574p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-644-36085-2. $69.95.
by Milton Lewis. 1998.

This highly readable book is a fourth in histories that deal with sexually transmitted diseases in different parts of the English-speaking world. The other three were Allan Brandt's No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States since 1880 (1985); Jay Cassel's The Secret Plague: Venereal Disease in Canada 1838-1939 (1987); and Richard Davenport-Hines' Sex, Death and Punishment: Attitudes to Sex and Sexuality in Britain since the Renaissance (1990). Although Lewis' book is about Australia, it is discussed in an international context because Australia was a political dependant of Britain and a cultural dependant of Britain, Europe, and the United States. The first chapter sets the stage with a discussion of the history of venereal disease in Europe from ancient times to its development in early colonial Australia. Chapter two covers "Venereal Disease in the Nineteenth Century" and chapter three discusses the "Regulation of the Social Evil: Prostitution and Veneral Disease" in Germany, France, Britain, United States, India, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cape Colony, Canada, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

The following chapters cover: "A World Free of Syphilis?," "The Interwar Years: Education and Mass Treatment," "A False Dawn: Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the Penicillin Era," "Sexually Transmitted Diseases Resurgent," and "Aborigines and Sexually Transmitted Diseases." The ninth chapter provides an insight into the "Modern Plague: The Advance of HIV/AIDS." This is an interesting book that will give the reader a great deal to think about. "For the first time over an extended period the public health policies of Australia and other countries are discussed in relation to changes in disease patterns, social attitudes, social behaviour and cultural differences." This is a recommended book for all medical and academic libraries.

Keywords: Sexually Transmitted Diseases; Australia, Treatment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases

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