Denying AIDS

Paralleling the discovery of HIV and the rise of the AIDS pandemic, a flock of naysayers has dedicated itself to replacing facts with medical misinformation. Denying AIDS returns in a radically revised second edition at a moment when denialism has moved from the margins to the center of political and institutional power. In this uncompromising new edition, psychologist and public-health researcher Seth Kalichman exposes how AIDS denialism adapts to new crises, new audiences, and new technologies. The COVID pandemic did not invent denialism it legitimized it. Arguments once dismissed as pseudoscience and conspiracy theories are amplified by political leaders. Denialism is now embedded in the broader anti-science movement that shakes the foundations of public health.

This is not a neutral accounting of competing ideas. It is a psychological autopsy of denialism and why it persists. Kalichman shines a bright light on the destructive appeal of denialists from professors and politicians to celebrities and rock stars. He exposes the threats posed by denialists -- from discredited quacks to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Denying AIDS is for anyone interested in public health. It is a deep dive into the psychological and sociopolitical forces that drive denialism. Buckle up, it s a wild ride.

AIDS denialism is destructive and rides on the back of mistrust in science and public health through our social media world. Seth Kalichman brilliantly uses a psychological lens to expose a world that creates and maintains its presence despite the untold numbers of deaths and suffering it has caused... whether from AIDS, COVID or Measles. This book is a wakeup call to policy makers and scientists everywhere that denialism must be confronted head on if we want to bring it under control. A must read for those who want to know more about the power and influence of pseudoscience.

-       Michael Merson, MD, Professor Emeritus of Public Health and Medicine, Duke University, and Former Director of the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS