Tinderbox: The Surprising Story of How We Sparked, Helped Spread and Could Finally Defeat a Murderous Pandemic
Summary
Washington Post journalist Craig Timberg and pioneering AIDS researcher Dr. Daniel Halperin team up to trace the spread of the HIV virus in Africa. Following both biological and cultural threads, their work shows why the billions of dollars spent on battling AIDS in Africa have failed. Using the latest research to trace the epidemic back to its beginning, when the forces of colonialism pulled a fragile, hard-to-spread virus out of the remote Cameroonian rainforest and set it loose in the world. Each step of the virus’s century-long journey offers crucial insights into why HIV has settled so tenaciously into some parts of Africa, and how it might finally be curbed. With an eye to the role that shifting sexual mores and fading circumcision rituals have played in the epidemic's curious path through the world, Timberg and Halprin demonstrate how ignorance and inaccurate stereotypes of African society are at the root of many of the failed prevention strategies of today.
Rights
US Publisher: Penguin Press
Foreign rights: The Marsh Agency
Camilla Ferrier (Camilla@marsh-agency.co.uk) for Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Israel, Russia Poland, Hungary, Vietnam, Thailand, China, and Taiwan
Jemma McDonagh (Jemma@marsh-agency.co.uk) for France, Brazil, The Netherlands, Korea, Greece, Slovak Republic, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, and Romania
Jessica Woollard (Jessica@marsh-agency.co-uk) and Stephanie Ebdon (Steph@marsh-agency.co.uk) for United Kingdom
Georgina Le Grice (Georgina@marsh-agency.co.uk) for Baltic States, Bulgaria, Czech & Slovak Republics, Croatia, Indonesia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Thailand, and Vietnam
Film Rights: Gillian MacKenzie (gmackenzie@gillianmackenzieagency.com)
Reviews
"An essential and engrossing read... Extensively researched, eminently readable and accessible, Timberg and Halperin’s work is a notable and invaluable addition to the AIDS canon."--Booklist, starred review
"Absorbing... this timely exposé advocates practical solutions to a seemingly intractable problem."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Timberg and Halperin may ruffle feathers with some of their unorthodox views, but they present a forceful case with which future students of HIV and AIDS will have to reckon."--Kirkus Reviews