Chicago's War on Syphilis, 1937-40

"An eye for colorful vignettes and anecdotes. On target! She recognizes

        the importance of her subject." -- Thomas N. Bonner, author of To

        the Ends of the Earth: Women's Search for Education in Medicine

      Those struggling to deal with the AIDS epidemic might learn valuable

        lessons from the earlier struggle of the U.S. to deal with syphilis. Here,

        Suzanne Poirier tells the story of the Chicago Syphilis Control Program

        launched in 1937 by the Chicago Board of Health and the U.S. Public Health

        Service and severely limited from the start because of the refusal of

        government, the press, and the public to confront directly the issues

        underlying the problem.

      Poirier's narrative is memorable for its vivid scenes, colorful characters

        that include Chicago's "clap doctor," Dr. Ben Reitman, and its

        account of the heated debate that surrounded the effort. In an epilogue,

        the author discusses similarities between current efforts against AIDS

        and the handling and politics of the syphilis problem in the late 1930s.