{"id":99618,"date":"2017-02-23T12:53:55","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T17:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=99618"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:26:04","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:26:04","slug":"recommended-reading-from-sph-community","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2017\/recommended-reading-from-sph-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Recommended Reading from SPH Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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February 23, 2017<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"BookAs part of Narrative Month this March, members of the SPH community shared their favorite public health-related reads. From nonfiction books on specific health issues, to novels that show the ways inequality shapes health and wellbeing, these titles have influenced the working and thinking of faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
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A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA<\/em> by Joshua Kurlantzick<\/strong><\/h5>\n

George Annas<\/strong>, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of health law, policy & management: \u201cA compelling, if depressing read, centering on the birth of a militarized CIA in\u00a0fighting in Laos during the Vietnam war, the book has immediate application to today\u2019s CIA, and our current immigration policy. It also helps us understand the Hmong people, and is a terrific book to supplement the classic The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Black Rage<\/em> by William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Fatimah Dainkeh<\/strong>, MPH student: \u201cThis is one of the first books that truly dissects the experience of Black America through psychiatry. I’ve read several articles and books that cover a wide range of topics about race in relation to health, but this writing gives a perspective from a point in time that many of us are not necessarily familiar with, especially when discussing mental illness. It is absolutely a brilliant piece of work!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa<\/em> by Katherine A. Dettwyler<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Monica Onyango<\/strong>, clinical assistant professor of global health: \u201cIt speaks to the importance of understanding and respecting the cultures of populations we work with in all aspects of public health, and especially while conducting research. It was highly recommended to me as a book that public heath students and practitioners should read.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right<\/em> by Jane Mayer<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Sandro Galea<\/strong>, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor: \u201cOver the past several decades a systematic, organized effort has been underway to promote libertarian notions of the role of government in the US. This book makes the case, compellingly, that this effort represented an organized agenda to promote governmental policies that promoted particular corporate interests under the guise of ideology. Apart from the book\u2019s value as a superb documentary summary of some of the strongest forces that have shaped our political present, it serves as a primer of sorts for how to create social momentum to promote ideas. We would be well served indeed to learn from this towards the end of promoting population health.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America <\/em>edited by Taylor Brorby and Stefanie Brook Trout<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Madeleine Scammell<\/strong>, assistant professor of environmental health: \u201cAs the title indicates, this is a compilation of approaches and experiences, including brief and informative histories of hydraulic fracturing, the technology, industry, workers, and communities engaged\u2014with consent or exposed by no choice of their own\u2014to this form of oil and gas extraction. The book includes many first person accounts, and has something for everyone. The public health concerns of fracking are vast, and anyone who cares about clean air and water, and who relies on fossil fuels, may find this book is worth picking up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gardens of Water<\/em> by Alan Drew<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Kate Petcosky-Kulkarni<\/strong>, alumna (\u201916): \u201cThis novel depicts the story of a Kurdish family during and after the 1999 Marmara earthquake in Turkey.\u00a0 While one may argue that the novel\u2019s true depth lies in its exploration of human relationships when a time of crisis merges radically different religious and cultures, the narrative also evaluates public health response in a disaster setting.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

Ghost Map: The Story of London\u2019s Most Terrifying Epidemic and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World<\/em> by Steven Johnson<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Lois McCloskey<\/strong>, associate professor of community health sciences: \u201cJohnson weaves a fascinating, many-layered tale about John Snow\u2019s determination and tactics to prove scientific orthodoxy of his time (1850\u2019s London) wrong. Cholera was a water-borne disease, not the inevitable result of urban air pollution or \u2018miasma\u2019. I loved this book\u2014a must for understanding the history of public health and reminding us of how and why cities formed and became the hub of disease, as well as prevention and cure. We should all be mapping our theories and everyday evidence!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape<\/em> by Peggy Orenstein<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Emily Rothman<\/strong>, associate professor of community health sciences: \u201cA look at the new sexual landscape girls (ages high school through college) are facing, what kinds of sexual experiences they’re having, and how they are negotiating it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"GirlsHomo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow<\/em> by Yuval Noah Harari<\/strong><\/h5>\n

George Annas<\/strong>, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of health law, policy & management: \u201cA follow-up to his challenging Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind<\/em>, this book suggests how the next generation of \u2018big data,\u2019 when \u2018the data religion\u2019 which he calls \u2018dataism\u2019 will transform our species by, among other things, having all our major decisions made for us by algorithms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town<\/em> by Jon Krakauer<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Lois McCloskey<\/strong>, associate professor of community health sciences: \u201cKrakauer lays out the intricacies of campus rape and its (mis)handling through the stories of five female students at the University of Montana. I\u2019m not a foreigner to the topic, but I found the stories as he documents them, eye-opening\u2014good and bad cops, rogue prosecutors, conflicted campus administrators, campus culture(s), privileged athletes, and women torn apart. It\u2019s a must read to get \u2018under the surface\u2019 of campus rape.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Orlando\"<\/p>\n

Orlando<\/em> by Virginia Woolf<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Chase Crossno<\/strong>, Learning & Development program manager: \u201cI hardly think the importance of this novel needs explaining. It is a beautifully written exploration in gender identity and place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Random Family<\/em> by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Ann Aschengrau<\/strong>, professor of epidemiology: \u201cThis nonfiction account of life in a poor neighborhood of the Bronx describes the struggles of two women and their families as they deal with sub-standard housing, addiction, teen pregnancy, and prison time. It’s a difficult but riveting story that puts real faces in front of our public health statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandro Galea<\/strong>, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor: \u201cA richly woven saga about one family in the Bronx drifting in and out of extreme poverty, drug use, prison, and a social service-industrial complex that struggles to provide a patchwork of services woefully inadequate for the challenges the family faces. A more compelling description of the foundational challenges that characterize the lives of the poor in the United States than any I have read, highlighting how the core task of public health is very much to address these challenges if we want to improve the health of all populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Random<\/p>\n

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right<\/em> by Arlie Russell Hochschild<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Sandro Galea<\/strong>, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor: \u201cAn illuminating read about the challenges facing rural America, and how notions of individualism have resulted in a drift to the political right despite the challenge that Republican policies pose to the wellbeing of these same communities. A well-crafted set of insights into understanding parts of the country quite different from Massachusetts, towards understanding how we can create a broader conversation towards promoting the health of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Bluest Eye<\/em> by Toni Morrison<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Catherine Ettman<\/strong>, chief of staff and director of strategic initiatives in the Office of the Dean: \u201cI think Toni Morrison does the most incredible job of narrating the lived experiences of African Americans, particularly women. The story is heartbreaking, showing how childhood experiences, how cultural assumptions, how the infrastructure around us, really shape how we live, who we are, what we want to be, and how we\u2019re treated. For me, any book of hers shows the experiences of women and how living conditions impact their health, but more so how they live in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The-Bluest-Eye\"Chase Crossno<\/strong>, Learning & Development program manager: \u201cPerhaps the most insidious form of prejudice is one that is internalized and self-directed. This novel is a brilliant and devastating reflection on pervasive measures of worth and beauty and the intersection of racism and poverty. Toni Morrison says it best herself, \u2018\u2026this is a terrible story about things one would rather not know anything about.\u2019 Which is precisely why we need read it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Passion<\/em> by Jeanette Winterson<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Chase Crossno<\/strong>, Learning & Development program manager: \u201cThis may seem an odd recommendation for a public health-related book, but the connection is clear enough to me! This novel does not revolve around plot, but is a meditation on life, chance, self, and place. It is an exercise in empathic imagination in the development of identity and passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"TheThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down<\/em> by Anne Fadiman <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Chelsea Lennox<\/strong>, MPH student: \u201cI remember reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down<\/em> by Anne Fadiman as a first-year in college, before I knew what public health really was. In retrospect, I think is deserves a more critical eye than I gave it in 2010. I’d recommend anyone who reads it to keep racism, colonialism, and medical paternalism in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesse Walsh<\/strong>, MPH student and Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights coordinator: \u201cThis was the book that got me interested in public health in the first place because I was coming from a philosophy of ethics and science background and was instantly hooked on the book\u2019s overarching questions about the nature of disease, health, illness, medicine, treatment and Eastern vs. Western traditions. I actually came to public health school because I wanted to learn the answers to the questions raised in Fadiman\u2019s book\u2014that\u2019s really how compelling it was for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Underground Railroad <\/em>by Colson Whitehead<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"TheSandro Galea<\/strong>, Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor: \u201cA moving, affecting story about one of the foundational historical challenges that has shaped America over the centuries: slavery. The unobtrusive use of magical realism heightens the sadness that underpins the story. It is hard to grapple with racial inequities in health today without coming to terms with the history of American slavery. This story does more than any other I have recently read to highlight the horrors of an institution that shaped America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie Godley<\/strong>, clinical assistant professor of community health sciences: \u201cWinner of the 2016 National Book Award, an unflinching look at the abhorrent reality of slavery and the quest for freedom. A must read for all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Undoing Project<\/em> by Michael Lewis<\/strong><\/h5>\n

George Annas<\/strong>, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of health law, policy & management: \u201cThe story behind the friendship\u2014and its ultimate unwinding\u2014between Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky and how their work helped destroy the premise that humans make decisions based on reason, and produced the incredible book (which you don\u2019t have to read first) Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tom\u2019s River: A Story of Science & Salvation<\/em>, by Dan Fagin<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"Tom'sKate Petcosky-Kulkarni<\/strong>, alumna (\u201916): \u201cThis is a work of narrative nonfiction that is an incredible primer for environmental health.\u00a0 Fagin tells the story of a cancer cluster in Tom\u2019s River, New Jersey, where environmental health researchers and epidemiologists researched the connections between long-term industrial pollution and childhood cancers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through<\/em> Depression<\/em> by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Kirsten Minor<\/strong>, MPH student: \u201cI just recently purchased the memoir, as I was frustrated that there are little to no books pertaining to mental health and personal experiences battling the unique stigma that surrounds mental health in communities of color, which can present an additional barrier to healing and recovery. Therefore, I recommend the book as the book incorporates intersectionality, and may be empowering in the hostile political climate that we are in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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