A microbiologist and Aids researcher, Helen Epstein is among the most authoritative writers on the international politics of HIV/Aids. She has criticised not only faith groups, condom-burners and incompetent medical authorities (the usual bogeymen) but also humanitarian organisations and prevention campaigns for misreading the African context of the disease. The Invisible Cure presents a persuasive critique of the status quo. Along with interviews and statistics, it unearths neglected research on the transmission of the virus in sub-Saharan Africa, showing how its spread may have been hastened less by conventional promiscuity than by a culture of multiple concurrent relationships. Few books have described with such acuity the complexity and extent of Africa's struggle with Aids.