{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079P9SLPJ?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"B079P9SLPJ","authors":["Susan Sontag","Tavia Gilbert","Blackstone Audio, Inc.","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781250374738","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/illness-as-metaphor-and-aids-and-its-metaphors-B079P9SLPJ","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250374738.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","description":"Susan Sontag’s celebrated essays on cancer and AIDS now available in one volume. In 1978, Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor , a classic work described by Newsweek as “one of the most liberating books of its time.” A cancer patient herself when she was writing the book, Sontag shows how the metaphors and myths surrounding certain illnesses, especially cancer, add greatly to the suffering of patients and often inhibit them from seeking proper treatment. By demystifying the fantasies surrounding cancer, Sontag shows cancer for what it is—just a disease. Cancer, she argues, is not a curse, not a punishment, certainly not an embarrassment; and it is highly curable, if good treatment is followed. Almost a decade later, with the outbreak of a new, stigmatized disease replete with mystifications and punitive metaphors, Sontag wrote a sequel to Illness as Metaphor , extending the argument of the earlier book to the AIDS pandemic. These two essays now published together, Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors , have been translated into many languages and continue to have an enormous influence on the thinking of medical professionals and, above all, on the lives of many thousands of patients and caregivers.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781250374738","publication_date":"20250715","publisher":"Picador","slug":"illness-as-metaphor-and-aids-and-its-metaphors","subtitle":"","title":"Illness As Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HEA039020","confidence_band":"high","label":"HIV & AIDS","score":0.8256,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"MED022090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Infectious Diseases","score":0.7504,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HEA039020","confidence_band":"high","label":"HIV & AIDS","score":0.8256,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"MED022090","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Infectious Diseases","score":0.7504,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HEA039020","confidence_band":"high","label":"HIV & AIDS","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT006000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Literary Theory","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC057000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Disease & Public Health","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"HIV & AIDS","score":0.8256,"slug":"hiv-aids"},{"label":"Infectious Diseases","score":0.7504,"slug":"infectious-diseases"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy HIV & AIDS","Good for readers interested in essays","Good for readers who enjoy HIV & AIDS and Infectious Diseases."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Gary Null","James Feast"],"book_id":"9781583220627","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781583220627.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.847,"title":"AIDS","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781583220627"},{"authors":["Jonathan Engel"],"book_id":"9780061856761","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780061856761.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.8238,"title":"The Epidemic","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780061856761"},{"authors":["Paul Farmer"],"book_id":"9781250800237","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250800237.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":11.442,"title":"Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250800237"},{"authors":["Dominik Mattes"],"book_id":"9781805391210","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781805391210.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":10.4512,"title":"Fierce Medicines, Fragile Socialities","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781805391210"},{"authors":["Randy Shilts"],"book_id":"9780312374631","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780312374631.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":10.4296,"title":"And the Band Played on","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780312374631"},{"authors":["David France"],"book_id":"9780307745439","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780307745439.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":10.3987,"title":"How to Survive a Plague","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780307745439"},{"authors":["Victoria A. Harden"],"book_id":"9781597972949","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781597972949.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":10.3855,"title":"AIDS at 30","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781597972949"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:public health care"],"label":"Health","score":0.206,"slug":"health"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:cultural studies"],"label":"Studies","score":0.079,"slug":"studies"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:sociology"],"label":"Sociology","score":0.0518,"slug":"sociology"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:essays"],"label":"Essays","score":0.0469,"slug":"essays"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:queer"],"label":"Queer","score":0.0444,"slug":"queer"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Health, Studies, Sociology.","Reading lane: Hiv & Aids and Infectious Diseases.","Publisher: Picador."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":430,"goodreads_ratings_count":7890,"goodreads_reviews_count":890,"quality_score":0.968}}