Mortal Men: Living with Asymptomatic HIV Books In Print
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Mortal Men: Living with Asymptomatic HIV

Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Ave., Piscataway, NJ 08854-8099. 236p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-8135-2596-9. $26.00.
Richard MacIntyre. 1999.

This book is unlike the other books that have been published over the years where the themes of the books focused largely on the deaths of lovers. It is a book about those who are surviving even though they are HIV positive. "What is fascinating about MacIntyre's subjects is that at the height of the epidemic none of them equated diagnosis with death, either psychologically or physically. Even though friends and lovers have died, while the community they knew and its way of life have largely disappeared, each of these speakers is still asymptomatic and has been so for years." MacIntyre, positive since 1985, presents in glowing prose, conversations that he has had with well-educated HIV positive gay men. Their stories are filled with compassion, fear, trust, mistrust, and all of the other feelings that appear when one is told that they are HIV positive and that the ultimate prognosis is death.

In particular it provides an insight how some individuals related to the health care system--"ranging from complete trust to fragile trust to overt distrust or fear" and how those feelings affect treatment decisions. Nathan, Mathew, Ron, Brian, Eric, Jason, Kirk, Damian, Dick, and Gabe each tell a different story of what it is like to be HIV positive, see their friends die, watch as new treatments are discovered, and always wondering when they will be next. This is an interesting book that provides the reader with some touching accounts in the lives of individuals who are HIV positive. A recommended book for all libraries.

Keywords: HIV-Positive Persons; Interviews; Gay MenKWDhiv-positivepersons;interviews;gaymen
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Copyright © 1999 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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