An investigative account of the medical, sexual, and scientific questions surrounding the spread of AIDS across the country.

INCLUDES INDEX.

Acknowledgments --Dramatis personae -- The bureaucracy -- Prologue -- pt. 1. Behold, a pale horse -- 1. The feast of the hearts -- pt. 2. Before : 1980 -- 2. Glory days -- 3. Beaches of the dispossessed -- 4. Foreshadowing -- 5. Freeze frames -- pt. 3. Paving the road : 1981 -- 6. Critical mass -- 7. Good intentions -- 8. The prettiest one -- 9. Ambush poppers -- 10. Golf courses of science -- 11. Bad moon rising -- pt. 4. The gathering darkness : 1982 -- 12. Enemy time-- 13. Patient Zero -- 14. Bicentennial memories -- 15. Nightsweats -- 16. Too much blood -- 17. Entropy -- 18. Running on empty -- 19. Forced feedings -- 20. Dirty secrets -- 21. Dancing in the dark -- pt. 5. Battle lines : January-June 1983 -- 22. Let it bleed -- 23. Midnight confessions -- 24. Denial -- 25. Anger -- 26. The big enchilada -- 27. Turning points -- 28. Only the good -- 29. Priorities -- 30. Meanwhile -- 31. AIDSpeak spoken here -- 32. Star quality -- pt. 6. Rituals : July-December 1983 -- 33. Marathons -- 34. Just another day -- 35. Politics -- 36. Science -- 37. Public health -- 38. Journalism -- 39. People -- pt. 7. Lights & tunnels : 1984 -- 40. Prisoners -- 41. Bargaining -- 42. The feast of the hearts, part 2 -- 43. Squeeze play -- 44. Traitors -- 45. Political science -- 46. Downbound train -- 47. Republicans and Democrats -- 48. Embarrassed -- 49. Depression -- 50. The war -- pt. 8. The butcher's bill : 1985 -- 51. Heterosexuals -- 52. Exiles -- 53. Reckoning -- 54. Exposed -- 55. Awakening -- 56. Acceptance -- 57. Endgame -- pt. 9. Epilogue : After -- 58. Reunion -- 59. The feast of hearts, part 3 -- Notes on sources -- Index.