BIG SHOT: Passion, Politics and the Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine

The heroes of this dramatic journalistic examination are the scientists who have been struggling to find an AIDS vaccine since the virus was first identified in 1984. From her first chapter, when she vividly depicts how two scientists snuck HIV samples from a California naval laboratory, Thomas (a medical journalist and one of the first healthy people injected with an experimental AIDS vaccine) gets behind the scenes into the laboratory, corporate boardroom, press conference and Thai vaccine room, uncovering the international, incremental, competitive and sometimes haphazard way science operates. There's no smoking gun here—a vaccine hasn't been found—but Thomas knows how to build a dramatic tale. She shows how the scientists rely on, and jockey with, the other "players" in the health field: corporations, activists, the government and the National Institutes of Health. For example, some corporations and AIDS activists unknowingly shared a common interest in focusing on treatment rather than a vaccine, which she thinks has not served the world well. The number of scientific personnel is dizzying, and the science isn't simple. But Thomas's focus on the scientists humanizes the story. She writes with the general reader in mind—"The human body, like a big city, can be a dangerous and rowdy place"—and the resulting story highlights the complexities of finding a cure to one of the most invasive public health scourges of our time. (Sept.)