Chicago's War on Syphilis, 1937-40

"An eye for colorful vignettes and anecdotes. On target! She recognizesthe importance of her subject." -- Thomas N. Bonner, author of To the Ends of the Earth: Women's Search for Education in MedicineThose struggling to deal with the AIDS epidemic might learn valuablelessons from the earlier struggle of the U.S. to deal with syphilis. Here,Suzanne Poirier tells the story of the Chicago Syphilis Control Programlaunched in 1937 by the Chicago Board of Health and the U.S. Public HealthService and severely limited from the start because of the refusal ofgovernment, the press, and the public to confront directly the issuesunderlying the problem.Poirier's narrative is memorable for its vivid scenes, colorful charactersthat include Chicago's "clap doctor," Dr. Ben Reitman, and itsaccount of the heated debate that surrounded the effort. In an epilogue,the author discusses similarities between current efforts against AIDSand the handling and politics of the syphilis problem in the late 1930s.