African-American-Health Books

Susan L. Smith has written the definitive book on the history of black women's public health in the United States! A must-read for those interested in American history, health care and women's studies. I am anxiously awaiting her next book!!

I grew up in the 1960's. Singing with Momma Lou is such a wonderful heartwarming story. I use it to teach my students about aging, diversity and hope. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about children and their relationsip with aging grandparents.

This work could be taken as a reflection on and/or conclusion to the author's previous two well-known classic works on slavery and poses the paradox lurking in all ideas of progress applied to historical analysis. The book shows history's answer, one that historians perhaps fail to see. The place of the slavery is human history is so endemic that we are left with the question of why toward the end of the eighteenth century forces for its abolition appeared and within several generations more or less succeeded in its overcoming. It is not a question we should leave to the Hegels of this world, come on Historians.
This book cogently addrresses the core issue and orbits around it, and would make a good ending to a perusal of the author's lead-up texts, along with some of the literature cited on the slavery debate, which the book reviews, to some extent. The idea of progress is out of fashion, which makes the issue seem less significant to postmodern indifference, yet the ambiguity here lingers as a challenge to our notions of 'what drives history'.
In part, the paradoxes of historical progress springs from the inadequacy of our historiography which is either some teleological historicism or some derivative of the anti-progressivism of Darwinian evolution. In that context, the puzzle of slavery and abolition remains stubbornly mysterious. This work gives us a 'good question' whose answer would constitute a true 'universal history'.

You've seen the usual atlas that shows a map of the world or a country.

This book takes flat, boring columnar data related to health and the causes of disease and turns it into fascinating color maps. They show the world, based on life expectancy, violence, impact of global warming, illnesses like cancer, respiratory disease, HIV/AIDS, tobacco, alcohol use, unhealthy diet, access to health care...

And the images show surprising, enlightening findings.

This book is pure fact and data, yet it kept me up the night I received it, reading just one more page.

Seeing the data visualized in color maps makes it so clear just how brutally the industrialized world is inflicting the death and illness causes by climate change upon the third world.

We see how the US is one of the most violent nations in the world, at least when it comes to murders of males. The safest places for males, in terms of murdered men per 100,000 are France, Switzerland and Japan. We can see that China is addicted to tobacco more than almost any other nation. And the most suicidal nations are Russia and Eastern Europe.

This is an obvious gem for people doing international work-- not just in health. It's good to know where the violence is in the world, where the life expectancy is under 40 years, where the doctors available per 10,000 people is a tiny fraction of what it is in most of the world.

It makes sense that a book that displays health measures would measure the use of health measures. In this case, it displays a map of world, displaying which countries count what percentage of deaths. The US, Europe, Australia, Argentina, Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Uruguay measure 100%. Much of the world records less than 25%, including, not suprisingly, if I may get political, Iraq.

I can even see this book as useful to marketers seeking to identify markets for products and services.

The planet is overflowing with numbers and raw data. If all of it could be displayed in such meaningful, insightful ways, we would understand the world and each other much better.

A lively, but surprisingly thorough and scholarly examination of the history and current trends in Black fashion and style. The fresh approach to dressing for the corporate environment and the exhaustive look at the African textile sources of modern design were especially welcome. I find I turn back to this book every day as I plan what to wear to work and I have become more adventurous and stylish as a result. We need more books like this one!

Deftly written by the talented author Virginia Hamilton (whose Children's Literature awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Newberry Medal, and the Coretta Scott King Award), Time Pieces: The Book Of Times is an audiobook coming-of-age story for young people. An eleven-year-old African-American girl named Valena lives with her family in rural Ohio; as she deals with daily events, the threat of a tornado, the excitement of going to a circus, and the oppressive pallor of racism, she also listens to her mother's tales of her family's proud history. A remarkable story of the importance of family ties and taking pride in one's heritage, skillfully narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts. 3 CDs, unabridged, tracks every 3 minutes for easy bookmarking.

This groundbreaking book documents the courageous activism of feminists of color fighting for reproductive freedom. Faced with the oftentimes blatant racism and classism of the mainstream women's movement and obstacles of sexism amongst many of the men within their racial communities, these women are bravely demanding access to abortions and an end to sterilization abuse. With the anti-choice opposition trying to control female sexuality and reduce women's bodies to baby-making factories, this book is more important than ever. Not to mention that race and class are still pressing issues in this country, as evidenced by the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and recent attempts to further criminalize undocumented immigrants . However, though the book details the thoughts and actions of African-American, Latina, Asian-American, and Native American feminists, I was disappointed that it neglected to mention the work being done by Arab-Americans. Nevertheless,this is an excellent book, and unfortunately an urgent one.

Weight Loss For African American Women is a comprehensive guide to good health and wellness aimed at Black Women. Dr. Smith explains his treatment approach in clear, honest terms that are both encouraging and reasonable. He describes a holistic approach that takes into account all aspects of women including the emotional, mental, physical, sexual, intellectual, social, and spiritual.

Using an example of four women at different places in their lives, Dr. Smith shows readers the work required to lose weight and keep it off. The uniqueness of this book is its ethnic slant. Dr. Smith spends time in the beginning of the book discussing the historical ramifications of the bad eating
habits of African Americans. He also takes great care in explaining the language of the weight loss industry and gives in depth definitions of calories, metabolism, fat, etc. This book will help women whether they are on the threshold of a weight loss journey or in the midst of a program. Undoubtedly, readers will be able to identify with some of the stories shared in the text and readers will also enjoy all of the supplementary material included at the end of the book including a number of delicious recipes.

Reviewed by Diane Marbury

I think This book will prove to be helpful to anyone who struggles with life issues and needs to be encouraged. It is an interesting and profound read.

You should hear this! There is no comparison with the written text. Excellent second part to the books!