In anthropology, an ethnography is an account of the culture as told by the people in that culture. As such, it’s basically a fancy word for a series of interviews within a group of people linked together. In this work, Mendenhall, a medical anthropologist working at Georgetown University, offers us an ethnography of the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in rural America. She does so in a personal account while she visits her hometown…
Happiness at one’s job is certainly one of the most important aspects of life. Indeed, well-being alone can be a gateway to fantastic success, and lack thereof, a recipe for disaster. In this book, job coaches Berman and Bradt analyze how to find the right interface between you and your job – and if necessary, to change jobs in the process. Many people look to a job description as the way to find out what…
Religious belief and science are often put at odds with each other in contemporary society and popular culture. One needs only to listen to fundamentalist preachers or read newspapers about anti-vaccine protestors to think that these groups are forever at odds. Further, the histories of religious wars and persecutions turn many educated, reality-based citizens off of the religious path. To this situation, Polkinghorne offers a detente by suggesting that the two fields are cousins in…
In 1991, HIV/AIDS was an immensely scary topic for the public. AZT had just been released, but no one saw it as a cure. Some were even frightened of the long-term side effects. In the decade following, multi-drug HAART therapy transformed HIV into a livable condition, at least for patients in the developed world. But in 1991, the fear the words “HIV” and “AIDS” invoked – especially in those given this diagnosis – needs to…
To preface, my wife and I are involved in the organization that the authors helped to found in Nashville, Tennessee, but what this essay lacks in objectivity, I hope to regain in honest intimacy. This memoir relates the story of how Hartley’s family escaped the “Brentwood Bubble” (Brentwood is a well-to-do suburb of Nashville) while encountering the Mwizerwas. Having fled the genocide in Rwanda during the 1990s, the Mwizerwas became refugees in Nashville and rebuilt…
The author Maya Washington’s father is Gene Washington. (In order not to confuse, I will refer to them in this review by their first names.) Gene was among the first black football players on nationally prominent college and NFL/AFL teams in the 1960s. He grew up in Jim Crow Texas, but played football for Michigan State University. Not only did he help to integrate the sport; he also laid the groundwork for football becoming so…
Since around 2005, I’ve attempted to learn the big picture of American healthcare while focusing on my little niche in the system. After 16 years (and several legislative bills with major changes), I find myself as befuddled by the economic organization as I was at the beginning. Before dying in 2017, Reinhardt was a leading voice in healthcare economics. A Canadian by citizenship and a German by birth but an American by living, he mastered…
A pioneer of radioactivity and radiation therapy, Marie Curie has an assured place in scientific history. Untold numbers have benefitted from her discovery – especially cancer patients. Further accolades upon accolades follow her name: two-time winner of a Nobel Prize (jointly in physics and alone in chemistry), first female Nobel laureate, wife and daughter of two other Nobel laureates, tireless supporter of her country in World War I, first female professor at Paris’ elite Sorbonne,…
Most Americans, heeding the news in 2020-2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, have some bits and pieces about how the “war” against the coronavirus was waged. Very few (yet) have a comprehensive view. Enter Borrell’s The First Shots. In it, he aims to provide a first-draft of a history describing the vaccine’s development. Resulting is an engaging and educational narrative that will inform generations to come. With many actors, Borrell tellingly provides “A Cast of Characters”…
I try to respect nature and am honestly curious about how the natural world operates. However, despite an immense appreciation of life, I am no scientific specialist or ornithological hobbyist (i.e., bird-watcher). As such, I cannot judge the academic merits of this text, but I can appreciate the literary merits. Ackerman dramatically brings alive the lives of birds in a way that demonstrates that much more is going on than first meets the eye. The…