Ryan White Popular Books
Ryan White Biography & Facts
Ryan Wayne White (December 6, 1971 – April 8, 1990) was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnosis of AIDS. As a haemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated factor VIII blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Doctors said he posed no risk to other students, as AIDS is not an airborne disease and spreads solely through bodily fluids, but AIDS was poorly understood by the general public at the time. When White tried to return to school, many parents and teachers in Howard County rallied against his attendance due to unwarranted concerns of the disease spreading to other students and staff. A lengthy administrative appeal process ensued, and news of the conflict turned White into a popular celebrity and advocate for AIDS research and public education. Surprising his doctors, White lived five years longer than predicted. He died on April 8, 1990, one month before his high school graduation. During the 1980s, AIDS was largely stigmatized as an illness impacting the gay community. In the U.S., that perception shifted with the media focus placed on White and other prominent heterosexual HIV-infected people such as Magic Johnson, Arthur Ashe and the Ray brothers, although these cases were often framed as "innocent" against gay men who were seen as "guilty" subjects. The U.S. Congress passed a major piece of AIDS legislation, the Ryan White CARE Act, shortly after White's death, which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in August 1990. The act has been reauthorized twice; Ryan White programs are the largest provider of services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States. Early life and illness Ryan White was born at St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Kokomo, Indiana, to Hubert Wayne and Jeanne Elaine (Hale) White. When he was circumcised, the bleeding would not stop and when he was three days old, doctors diagnosed him with severe hemophilia A, a hereditary blood coagulation disorder associated with the X chromosome, which causes even minor injuries to result in severe bleeding. For treatment, he received weekly infusions of factor VIII, a blood product created from pooled plasma of non-hemophiliacs, an increasingly common treatment for hemophiliacs at the time. Healthy for most of his childhood, White became extremely ill with pneumonia in December 1984. On December 17, 1984, during a lung biopsy, White was diagnosed with AIDS. By this time the scientific community had studied the epidemic in great detail. Earlier that year, HTLV-III was identified and isolated by American research scientists, confirming the work done by French research scientists who called it LAV. A lengthy public battle to determine who should be recognized as the discoverer of the human retrovirus delayed development of a test for what would later be called HIV. White had apparently received a contaminated treatment of factor VIII that was infected with HIV, as did thousands of other Americans with hemophilia and hemophiliacs around the world. At that time, because the virus had only recently been identified and there was no screening of blood products, much of the pooled factor VIII concentrate was tainted. Blood banks and pharmaceutical companies dismissed calls by the CDC to use a hepatitis B test as a surrogate until an HIV test could be developed. Later plasma products were screened and heat-treated to deactivate both HIV and hepatitis. Among hemophiliacs treated with blood-clotting factors between 1979 and 1984, nearly 90% became infected with HIV and/or hepatitis C. At the time of his diagnosis, his T-cell count had dropped to 25 per cubic millimetre (a healthy individual without HIV will have around 500–1,200; below 200 is AIDS-defining in the U.S.). Doctors predicted Ryan White had only six months to live. After the diagnosis, White was too ill to return to school, but by early 1985 he began to feel better. His mother asked if he could return to school, but was told by school officials that he could not. On June 30, 1985, a formal request to permit re-admittance to school was denied by Western School Corporation superintendent James O. Smith, sparking an administrative appeal process that lasted for over nine months. Battle with schools Western Middle School in Russiaville faced enormous pressure from many parents and faculty to prevent White from returning to the campus after his diagnosis became widely known. In the school of 360 total students, 117 parents and 50 teachers signed a petition encouraging school leaders to ban White from school. Due to the widespread fear and ignorance of AIDS, the principal and later the school board succumbed to this pressure and prohibited re-admittance. The White family filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the decision. The Whites initially filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. The court, however, declined to hear the case until administrative appeals had been resolved. On November 25, an Indiana Department of Education officer ruled that the school must follow the Indiana Board of Health guidelines and that White must be allowed to attend school. The means of transmission of HIV had not yet been fully understood by the mid- to late 1980s. Scientists knew it spread via blood and was not transmittable by any sort of casual contact (such as shaking hands or being in the same room), but as recently as 1983, the American Medical Association had thought that "Evidence Suggests Household Contact May Transmit AIDS", and the belief that the disease could easily spread persisted. Children with AIDS were still rare; at the time of White's rejection from school, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knew of only 148 cases of pediatric AIDS in the United States. Many families in Kokomo believed his presence posed an unacceptable risk. When White was permitted to return to school for one day in February 1986, 151 of 360 students stayed home. He also worked as a paperboy, and many of the people on his route canceled their subscriptions, believing that HIV could be transmitted through newsprint. The Indiana state health commissioner, Dr. Woodrow Myers, who had extensive experience treating AIDS patients in San Francisco, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both notified the board that White posed no risk to other students, but the school board and many parents ignored their statements. In February 1986, The New England Journal of Medicine published a study of 101 people who had spent three months living in close but non-sexual contact with people with AIDS. The study concluded that the risk of infection was "minimal to nonexistent," even when contact included sharing toothbrushes, razors, clothing, combs, and drinking glasses; sleeping in the same bed; and hugging and kissing. When White was finally readm.... Discover the Ryan White popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ryan White books.
Best Seller Ryan White Books of 2024
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Edward VI
Stephen AlfordEdward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of fifteen. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the c...
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White Lies
Stephen LeatherDan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line for his friends and for his job with MI5. So when one of his former apprentices is kidnapped in the badlands of Pakis...
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Building the Yellow Wall
Uli HesseWINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019Towards the beginning of the twentyfirst century, Borussia Dortmund were on the verge of going out of business. Now they are a...
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The Psychology of Stupidity
Jean-François Marmion & Liesl Schillinger"We need books like this one." Steven PinkerAt last, stupidity explained! And by some of the world's smartest people, among them Daniel Kahneman, Dan Ariely, Alison Gopnik, Howard ...
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Kubrick
Robert P. Kolker & Nathan AbramsThe definitive biography of the creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, presenting the most indepth portrait yet of the groundbreaking filmmaker.The ...
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Every Breath You Take
Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair BurkeThe New York Times bestselling Under Suspicion series by the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke returns with this gripping mystery following television produc...
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The New Baseball Bible
Dan Schlossberg, Jay Johnstone & Alan SchwarzFor fans of baseball trivia, this updated version of The New Baseball Bible, first published as The Baseball Catalog in 1980 and selected as a BookoftheMonth Club alternate, is sur...
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Feminist Ryan Gosling
Danielle HendersonBased on the popular blog of the same name, Feminist Ryan Gosling pairs swoonworthy photos of the sensitive, steamy actor with feminist theories to the delight of women (and more t...
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Janesville
Amy GoldsteinFinancial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Winner of the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 800CEOREAD Business Book of the Year A New York Times Notable Book A Washingt...
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OMG Posters
Mitch PutnamTHE ULTIMATE COLLECTION OF GIG POSTERS FROM TODAY’S TOP ROCK AND INDIE BANDSLaunched in 2007, OMGPosters.com has become one of the world’s favorite art blogs, showcasing thousands ...
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I, Witness
Niki Mackay'A cracking thriller and a great female protagonist.' C.J. Tudor, author of Sunday Times Bestseller The Chalk Man'I couldn't put I,Witness down, this is a 2018 mustread' Phoebe Mor...
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The Bone Readers
Jacob RossWINNER OF THE JHALAK PRIZE'The Bone Readers is a pageturner, but its insights and language are equally testament to a literary novel of impressive depth and acuity' GuardianSecrets...
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The Teeth Of The Tiger
Tom ClancyTom Clancy brings Jack Ryan's sonJack Ryan, Jr.to the forefront in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller.A man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to propose a dea...
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Such Good Friends
Stephen Greco“Fans of Capote and the era of Camelot should be delighted.” Shana Abé, New York Times bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor “A rollicking ride that’s equal parts gossi...
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Apollo 1
Ryan S. WaltersOn January 27, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee climbed into a new spacecraft perched atop a large Saturn rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a r...
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Three Men and a Maybe
Debbie CarbinBeth Sheridan likes her life the way it is. OK, so her job's a little dull and her social life leaves a lot to be desired. But none of that really matters because Beth is in love w...
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Round Here and Over Yonder
Trae Crowder & Corey Ryan ForresterJoin Southern comedian duo Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester in this hilarious and irreverent travel guide as they wander about ponderin' the peculiarities beyond their smallto...
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Darkest Truth
Catherine KirwanRecommended by Graham Norton on The Graham Norton ShowHe'll do anything to protect his secrets. She'll stop at nothing to expose the truth.It only takes one person to break the sil...
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The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Tom ClancyIn this electrifying #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from Tom Clancy, a silent war between the USA and Russia will decide the fate of the worldand Jack Ryan is behind enemy ...
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Tom Clancy Oath of Office
Marc CameronMarine officer. CIA analyst. President. Jack Ryan has devoted his life to protecting the United States. What if this time, he can't? President Ryan and the Campus return in this en...
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The White Devil
Paul HoffmanTHE GRIPPING NEW ADVENTURE FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LEFT HAND OF GOD SERIESAmerica is on the brink of civil war. Only Thomas Cale can stop it . . .Thomas Cale the world's most dange...
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The Road to Jonestown
Jeff Guinn2018 Edgar Award FinalistBest Fact Crime“A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his alltoo vulnerable prey” (The Boston Globe)the definitive ...
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The Next Moon
Andre Hue & Ewen Southby-TailyourAndre Hue was a daredevil. By the age of twenty the AngloFrenchman had survived shipwreck and years undercover in France, sabotaging German supply lines. Returning to Britain, he w...
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The White Devil of Dublin
P.M. TerrellWhen Detective Ryan O'Clery receives a phone call from a noted historian claiming to have information about his family, he is certain she is mistaken but agrees to meet with her. W...
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Measuring What Matters
Committee on the Ryan White CARE Act: Data for Resource AllocationThe Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act gives funding to cities, states, and other public and private entities to provide care and support services to indi...
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From Hollywood with Love
Scott MeslowAn indepth celebration of the romantic comedy’s modern golden era and its role in our culture, tracking the genre from its heyday in the ’80s and the ’90s, its unfortunate decline ...
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The Sleeping Beauty Killer
Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair BurkeThe third thrilling novel in the Under Suspicion series by #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke follows television prod...
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Freedom by the Sword
William A. DobakThe Civil War changed the United States in many wayseconomic, political, and social. Of these changes, none was more important than Emancipation. Besides freeing nearly four millio...
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Hope for Ryan White
Dano MorenoEven after he was diagnosed with AIDS, Ryan White never lost hope.When Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS as a teenager in 1984, doctors gave him just six months to live. With the ...
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Learning to Keep Up
Ryan Williams"Learning to Keep Up: Technology Integration in Schools" is the final product for senior Ryan Williams' graduation project for the 2014 school year. Inside the details of the techn...
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Riots I Have Known
Ryan ChapmanLonglisted for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Ryan Chapman’s “gritty, bracing debut” (Esquire) set during a prison riot is “dark, daring, and laughoutloud hilarious...
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The Chosen Few
Gregg Zoroya & Admiral William H. McRavenThe neverbeforetold story of one of the most decorated units in the war in Afghanistan and its fifteenmonth ordeal that culminated in the 2008 Battle of Wanat, the war's deadliest ...