Books: Journals of The Plague Years

Before the tears, here are some icy numbers from the Centers for Disease Control. Of the 65,780 cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome reported in the U.S. since June 1981, 37,195 are now filed under Deceased. The rest seem likely to join them unless a magic bullet is discovered soon. Researchers are pessimistic.

This "retroactive" plague, as Andrew Holleran calls the AIDS epidemic in Ground Zero (Morrow; 228 pages; $16.95), is causing not only panic but a radical change in sensibilities. Phrases like "oral sex" and "anal penetration," once startling to read outside hard-covers, are now routinely bounced off satellites with the...