PositiveLibrary JournalWith her aptly named and timed work....Brown weaves her multiple worlds together in this deeply personal memoir ... Brown’s in-depth account of caring for the health of patients while simultaneously navigating her own health care is especially timely as the world enters another year of pandemic. Brown’s own journey is largely described positively, but she lays bare the wounds inflicted by an imperfect health system. Her clear-eyed and eloquent examination of illness—from the inside and from the outside—is illuminating ... This moving and enlightening memoir is recommended for memoir readers and those interested in health care journeys and struggles.
Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley
PositiveLibrary JournalAn informative account for readers interested in public health’s impact on historical and current practices in medicine and science.
Val McDermid and Kathryn Briggs
PositiveLibrary JournalZaman unravels a complex narrative through time and place of how bacteria around us has become drug resistant, whether by bacteria’s own natural selection process or the effects of humanity on the natural world ... Organized in short chapters loosely tied together by time, topic, or location, Zaman’s work provides the full context of how bacteria resistance is nature at work and intrinsically linked to our futures ... Recommended for readers interested in the history of science and medicine, and how human response to global issues informs and impacts pathogen research and antibacterial use.
Ina Park
PositiveLibrary JournalMD Park creates an engrossing, fun, and frank discussion of the science and history behind sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and calls for us to have sex safely. Through Park’s engaging writing, readers are brought into a scientific arena filled with safe-sex proponents, women’s reproductive rights advocates, and LBGTQ+ and anti-racist allies, all seeking to overturn centuries of systemic discrimination inherent in sexual and reproductive health sciences. The strength of this book lies in Park’s presentation of personal stories and the removal of the morality often tied to the topic of STDs, or sexually transmitted infections (STIs), as they are sometimes known...With sensitivity, she also addresses the history of diseases among people who are currently in jail or prison ... A thoughtful, informative account for readers interested in public health and sexual health as well as those with an interest in the history of medicine. Park brings the right amount of care to an often-stigmatized subject.
Paul Farmer
PositiveLibrary JournalBlending medical history and anthropology, this book brings newfound awareness to the interconnectedness of West Africa, Europe, and the United States throughout the centuries as each region navigates global health challenges, and shows how the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to affect the social underpinnings of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea today ... Throughout, readers are immersed in Farmer’s own recollections of his time working in West Africa and will be moved by the interwoven recollections of Ebola survivors along with the stories of those who died from the disease ... Recommended to all interested in a moving, impassioned overview of the economic and social forces of colonialism and racism that have directly impacted public health historically, during the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and today, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jonathan M. Berman
PositiveLibrary JournalRecommended for those countering the anti-vaccination movement, as well as those with an interest in cultural and historical antecedents of the movement.
