This sure to be controversial book addresses how sex and drugs have turned the global epidemic of HIV into a billion-dollar-a-year industry. Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani takes a no-holds-barred approach to finding out exactly why 40 million people are living with HIV and 28 million have already died of AIDS when we have the knowledge, the money, and the means to wipe out the disease in 90 percent of the world. She makes a convincing argument that the measures needed to control the disease are not impossible, just unpopular. "It would mean spending lots more of the available money on prostitutes, addicts, and gay guys, and lots less on school kids, pregnant women, and church groups. It would mean making fun things (sex, drugs) safe, instead of trying to make safe things (abstinence, monogamy) fun."

"This is an utterly fascinating book."
—Stephen Lewis, former UN envoy on AIDS in Africa

"Highly readable."
—The Financial Times

"The Wisdom of Whores is like a gale of fresh air being blown through the musty smelling bullshit that has surrounded the whole HIV/AIDS issue from day one."
—Blogcritics

"Delivers a strong, well-told and believable message – would that it makes a difference."
—Kirkus Reviews