Overview

In 28, Stephanie Nolen, the Toronto Globe and Mail's Africa Bureau Chief, puts a human face on the crisis created by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Through riveting anecdotal stories, Nolen brings to life people involved in every aspect of the crisis and explores the effects of an epidemic that well exceeds the Black Plague in magnitude, a calamity ongoing just a 747-flight away. 28's stories are much more than a record of suffering and loss. Through her unprecedented reporting, Nolen introduces women, men, and children fighting vigorously and hopefully on the frontlines of disease: Tigist Haile Michael, a smart, shy 14-year-old Ethiopian orphan fending for herself and her baby brother on the slum streets of Addis Ababa; Alice Kadzanja, an HIV-positive nurse in Malawi, where one in six adults has the virus, and where the average adult's life expectancy is 36; Zachie Achmat, the hero of South Africa's politically fragmented battle against HIV/AIDS. Nolen's stories reveal how the disease works, how it spreads, and how it kills; how it is inextricably tied to conflict, famine, failure of leadership, and the collapse of states, and to the cultures it has ravaged; how treatment works, and how people who can't get it fight to stay alive with courage, dignity, and hope against huge odds. Writing with power, understanding, and simplicity, Stephanie Nolen makes us listen, allows us to understand, and inspires us to care. Timely, transformative, and thoroughly accessible, 28 is essential reading for our times.

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9780802716750

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Reviews

Major acclaim for Stephanie Nolen' s bestseller 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa <br>(a bestseller on the Maclean' s, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star lists) <br> Stephanie Nolen looks behind the facts and stats to talk to 28 people across the continent affected by the virus. Through them, she builds up a larger narrative: of mass social stigma and ignorance; corrupt governments; exploitative drug companies; and a dispassionate and largely disinterested West. A welcome dispatch from an epic disaster we ignore at our peril. <br> -- Metro (London) <br> In 28, Nolen marshals the reporting and storytelling skills that have made her, after UN special envoy Stephen Lewis, this country' s most compelling and vigorous voice for action on the grim parasite worming its way across Africa. In clear, insightful prose and vivid, though never lurid, detail, she allows her characters-- one for every million people-- to tell tales of despair and remarkable courage, willful ignorance and improbable triumph. <br>-- The Gazette (Montreal) <br> Nolen is a gifted listener and storyteller . . . Her collection . . . pays loving tribute to the people of Africa . . . Although history and science are woven lightly in and around the anecdotes and photographic portraits of the 28, this is a book about human life and human nature. <br>-- The Globe and Mail <br> Nolen puts a very human face on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. <br>-- Booklist <br> Never sentimental, Nolen lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. . . . A unique, valuable contribution to the literature on this important topic. <br>-- Library Journal <br> A kind of continental survey of the impact of the AIDS pandemic on Africa, in stories that are frequently both tragically sad and just as often hugely inspiring. <br>-- Calgary Herald <br> 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information-- health statistics, disease data, NGO reports-- into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. <br>-- Publishers Weekly <br> In 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, Nolen takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS . . . The stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human. <br>-- Kingston Whig-Standard <br> She is an evocative and empathetic writer. <br>-- The Nation <br> [A] powerful, yet restrained, book. . . . Nolen' s book is . . . a journalist' s honest attempt to tell a powerful story using human interest, anecdotes and poignant quotes in 28 profiles. <br>-- Winnipeg Free Press <br> Nolen puts a very humanface on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. <br>- Booklist<br> <br> Nolen gives the epidemic a human face - more precisely, 28 human faces, one for each million Africans estimated to be infected with HIV. Ill healthcare workers and activists are portrayed along with ordinary Africans whose lives have been forever changed by AIDS. Nolen tells their stories simply and elegantly, blending their personal experiences with relevant background information about the epidemic. Never sentimental, she lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. - Library Journal<br> <br> 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information - health statistics, disease data, NGO reports - into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. <br>- Publishers Weekly<br> <br> Magnificent, inspiring, informative. Nolen opens the essential door to the brave, suffering, human reality of the African AIDS crisis. <br>- John le Carre <br> This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via 28 individual humanstories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than any W.M.D. <br>- Bono <br> This book is magnificent. It' s probably the best book ever written about AIDS, certainly the best I' ve ever read. I wept when I finished, not just because it' s beautifully written, not just because the last chapter tears the heart out, not just because it' s a work of such force and feeling and power, not just because it' s so intensely and astonishingly human, not just because it covers the entire landscape of the virus, but because its impact could shape public opinion as never before. <br>- Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy HIV/AIDS in Africa <br> A book of quiet yet overwhelming power, delivering a message of devastating moral authority. Moving, heartrending and uplifting, Stephanie Nolen' s book bears impeccable witness to the ' unique and savage' phenomenon of AIDS in Africa. <br>- William Boyd, author of Restless and Brazzaville Beach <br> If a war had killed 20 million soldiers, and left 28 million more dying of wounds, we' d call it the worst such tragedy since World War II. This is the scale of AIDS in Africa. Stephanie Nolen brings this story to life in a moving, deeply human way. Through these portraits - shrewdly chosen, varied, and sometimes startlingly unexpected- she artfully puts a series of human faces on the greatest health crisis of our time. <br>- Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold' s Ghost and Bury the Chains <br> 28 can soon be 48, 98 and more. And not just in Africa. And it does not have to be. Nolen shows that the struggle of one to live with dignity must be the struggle of all. Read. Weep. Rage. And above all else - like those people described in this brilliant book- find the courage to do, <br>- Dr. James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Me decins Sans Frontie res <br> AIDS in Africa is an enigma. The more it spreads, the less we see it. It is deadly yet deniable. It hides in full view of everyone. What this moving book does is to catch it by the tail and show us its face - it is our own, <br>- Christopher Hope, author of My Mother' s Lovers <br> Essential reading in the Age of AIDS, it is never earnest, and, whilst often painful, full of humane and painstakingly researched detail. <br>- Emma Thompson <p> From the Hardcover edition.

From teachers to truckers, sex workers to orphans, Stephanie Nolen's devastatingly moving 28 puts heroic human faces on the catastrophic toll AIDS is taking on the African people.;Elissa Schappell, Vanity Fair-HOT TYPE Magnificent, inspiring, informative. Nolen opens the essential door to the brave, suffering, human reality of the African AIDS crisis.John le Carre This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via 28 individual human stories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than any W.M.D.Bono Major acclaim for Stephanie Nolen' s bestseller 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa (a bestseller on the Maclean' s, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star lists) Stephanie Nolen looks behind the facts and stats to talk to 28 people across the continent affected by the virus. Through them, she builds up a larger narrative: of mass social stigma and ignorance; corrupt governments; exploitative drug companies; and a dispassionate and largely disinterested West. A welcome dispatch from an epic disaster we ignore at our peril. -- Metro (London) In 28, Nolen marshals the reporting and storytelling skills that have made her, after UN special envoy Stephen Lewis, this country' s most compelling and vigorous voice for action on the grim parasite worming its way across Africa. In clear, insightful prose and vivid, though never lurid, detail, she allows her characters-- one for every million people-- to tell tales of despair and remarkable courage, willful ignorance and improbable triumph. -- The Gazette (Montreal) Nolen is a gifted listener and storyteller . . . Her collection . . . pays loving tribute to the people of Africa . . . Although history and science are woven lightly in and around the anecdotes and photographic portraits of the 28, this is a book about human life and human nature. -- The Globe and Mail Nolen puts a very human face on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. -- Booklist Never sentimental, Nolen lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. . . . A unique, valuable contribution to the literature on this important topic. -- Library Journal A kind of continental survey of the impact of the AIDS pandemic on Africa, in stories that are frequently both tragically sad and just as often hugely inspiring. -- Calgary Herald 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information-- health statistics, disease data, NGO reports-- into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. -- Publishers Weekly In 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, Nolen takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS . . . The stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human. -- Kingston Whig-Standard She is an evocative and empathetic writer. -- The Nation [A] powerful, yet restrained, book. . . . Nolen' s book is . . . a journalist' s honest attempt to tell a powerful story using human interest, anecdotes and poignant quotes in 28 profiles. -- Winnipeg Free Press Nolen puts a very humanface on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. - Booklist Nolen gives the epidemic a human face - more precisely, 28 human faces, one for each million Africans estimated to be infected with HIV. Ill healthcare workers and activists are portrayed along with ordinary Africans whose lives have been forever changed by AIDS. Nolen tells their stories simply and elegantly, blending their personal experiences with relevant background information about the epidemic. Never sentimental, she lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. - Library Journal 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information - health statistics, disease data, NGO reports - into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. - Publishers Weekly Magnificent, inspiring, informative. Nolen opens the essential door to the brave, suffering, human reality of the African AIDS crisis. - John le Carre This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via 28 individual humanstories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than any W.M.D. - Bono This book is magnificent. It' s probably the best book ever written about AIDS, certainly the best I' ve ever read. I wept when I finished, not just because it' s beautifully written, not just because the last chapter tears the heart out, not just because it' s a work of such force and feeling and power, not just because it' s so intensely and astonishingly human, not just because it covers the entire landscape of the virus, but because its impact could shape public opinion as never before. - Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy HIV/AIDS in Africa A book of quiet yet overwhelming power, delivering a message of devastating moral authority. Moving, heartrending and uplifting, Stephanie Nolen' s book bears impeccable witness to the ' unique and savage' phenomenon of AIDS in Africa. - William Boyd, author of Restless and Brazzaville Beach If a war had killed 20 million soldiers, and left 28 million more dying of wounds, we' d call it the worst such tragedy since World War II. This is the scale of AIDS in Africa. Stephanie Nolen brings this story to life in a moving, deeply human way. Through these portraits - shrewdly chosen, varied, and sometimes startlingly unexpected- she artfully puts a series of human faces on the greatest health crisis of our time. - Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold' s Ghost and Bury the Chains 28 can soon be 48, 98 and more. And not just in Africa. And it does not have to be. Nolen shows that the struggle of one to live with dignity must be the struggle of all. Read. Weep. Rage. And above all else - like those people described in this brilliant book- find the courage to do, - Dr. James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Me decins Sans Frontie res AIDS in Africa is an enigma. The more it spreads, the less we see it. It is deadly yet deniable. It hides in full view of everyone. What this moving book does is to catch it by the tail and show us its face - it is our own, - Christopher Hope, author of My Mother' s Lovers Essential reading in the Age of AIDS, it is never earnest, and, whilst often painful, full of humane and painstakingly researched detail. - Emma Thompson From the Hardcover edition.

Major acclaim for Stephanie Nolen' s bestseller 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa (a bestseller on the Maclean' s, the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star lists) Stephanie Nolen looks behind the facts and stats to talk to 28 people across the continent affected by the virus. Through them, she builds up a larger narrative: of mass social stigma and ignorance; corrupt governments; exploitative drug companies; and a dispassionate and largely disinterested West. A welcome dispatch from an epic disaster we ignore at our peril. -- Metro (London) In 28, Nolen marshals the reporting and storytelling skills that have made her, after UN special envoy Stephen Lewis, this country' s most compelling and vigorous voice for action on the grim parasite worming its way across Africa. In clear, insightful prose and vivid, though never lurid, detail, she allows her characters-- one for every million people-- to tell tales of despair and remarkable courage, willful ignorance and improbable triumph. -- The Gazette (Montreal) Nolen is a gifted listener and storyteller . . . Her collection . . . pays loving tribute to the people of Africa . . . Although history and science are woven lightly in and around the anecdotes and photographic portraits of the 28, this is a book about human life and human nature. -- The Globe and Mail Nolen puts a very human face on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. -- Booklist Never sentimental, Nolen lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. . . . A unique, valuable contribution to the literature on this important topic. -- Library Journal A kind of continental survey of the impact of the AIDS pandemic on Africa, in stories that are frequently both tragically sad and just as often hugely inspiring. -- Calgary Herald 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information-- health statistics, disease data, NGO reports-- into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. -- Publishers Weekly In 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, Nolen takes the reader on an emotional journey through the continent as she tells the stories of 28 people fighting HIV/AIDS . . . The stories are powerful, heartfelt and deeply human. -- Kingston Whig-Standard She is an evocative and empathetic writer. -- The Nation [A] powerful, yet restrained, book. . . . Nolen' s book is . . . a journalist' s honest attempt to tell a powerful story using human interest, anecdotes and poignant quotes in 28 profiles. -- Winnipeg Free Press Nolen puts a very humanface on HIV/AIDS in Africa. . . . Nolen sees beneath the surfaces of these individuals, estranged and all but destroyed by governmental ineptitude and denial, and evinces their loves and hopes and family ties, their humanness, with which all others can identify. - Booklist Nolen gives the epidemic a human face - more precisely, 28 human faces, one for each million Africans estimated to be infected with HIV. Ill healthcare workers and activists are portrayed along with ordinary Africans whose lives have been forever changed by AIDS. Nolen tells their stories simply and elegantly, blending their personal experiences with relevant background information about the epidemic. Never sentimental, she lets the people and their experiences speak for themselves. The result is both an informative and a powerful read, which will help Western readers connect personally with a crisis that too often seems remote. - Library Journal 28 searing portraits of Africans affected by the deadly virus. . . . With a seasoned journalist' s finesse, Nolen effortlessly weaves technical information - health statistics, disease data, NGO reports - into these deeply intimate glimpses of people often overlooked in the flood of contemporary media. Nolen' s book packs a real emotional wallop. - Publishers Weekly Magnificent, inspiring, informative. Nolen opens the essential door to the brave, suffering, human reality of the African AIDS crisis. - John le Carre This is a formidable book of record . . . from the tiny virus, via 28 individual humanstories, to an entire continent. The stories will tear you apart before putting you back together, fully-armed and ready to go to war with a virus more dangerous than any W.M.D. - Bono This book is magnificent. It' s probably the best book ever written about AIDS, certainly the best I' ve ever read. I wept when I finished, not just because it' s beautifully written, not just because the last chapter tears the heart out, not just because it' s a work of such force and feeling and power, not just because it' s so intensely and astonishingly human, not just because it covers the entire landscape of the virus, but because its impact could shape public opinion as never before. - Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy HIV/AIDS in Africa A book of quiet yet overwhelming power, delivering a message of devastating moral authority. Moving, heartrending and uplifting, Stephanie Nolen' s book bears impeccable witness to the ' unique and savage' phenomenon of AIDS in Africa. - William Boyd, author of Restless and Brazzaville Beach If a war had killed 20 million soldiers, and left 28 million more dying of wounds, we' d call it the worst such tragedy since World War II. This is the scale of AIDS in Africa. Stephanie Nolen brings this story to life in a moving, deeply human way. Through these portraits - shrewdly chosen, varied, and sometimes startlingly unexpected- she artfully puts a series of human faces on the greatest health crisis of our time. - Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold' s Ghost and Bury the Chains 28 can soon be 48, 98 and more. And not just in Africa. And it does not have to be. Nolen shows that the struggle of one to live with dignity must be the struggle of all. Read. Weep. Rage. And above all else - like those people described in this brilliant book- find the courage to do, - Dr. James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Me decins Sans Frontie res AIDS in Africa is an enigma. The more it spreads, the less we see it. It is deadly yet deniable. It hides in full view of everyone. What this moving book does is to catch it by the tail and show us its face - it is our own, - Christopher Hope, author of My Mother' s Lovers Essential reading in the Age of AIDS, it is never earnest, and, whilst often painful, full of humane and painstakingly researched detail. - Emma Thompson From the Hardcover edition.

Author Information

Stephanie Nolen is the Africa Bureau Chief for the Globe and Mail, and one of only three journalists in the world dedicated to the AIDS story. She has reported from more than 40 countries around the world, and has won Canada's National Newspaper Award for International Reporting two years in a row. She was the recipient of the 2003, 2004, and 2006 Amnesty International Award for Human Rights Reporting, for reports from war zones in Uganda and Sudan, and also won the Markwell Award of the International Society of Political Psychology. She is the author of Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race and Shakespeare's Face.

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