African-American-Health Books

MaDonna Grimes is a world-renowned dancer, hip-hop instructor, the winner of Miss Fitness America and Miss Fitness International, and the owner of two successful dance/fitness studies. In Work It Out: The Black Woman's Guide To Getting The Body You Always Wanted, Grimes draws upon her considerable expertise and expertise to create an exercise and fitness guide written (with the assistance of Jim Rosenthal) especially for African-American women. MaDonna Grimes presents workouts that burn fat, methods to train one's strength and flexibility, enhanced with success stories, nutrition guidelines, and more. Black-and-white photographs showcase Grimes' upbeat, easy-to-follow, and confidently recommended plan for improved personal health and physical fitness.

I LOVE THIS BOOK.
I LEARNED A LOT ABOUT MY HAIR.
I WILL USE IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.
IT IS WELL WRITTEN AND VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
MRS MOSS BREAKS DOWN THE STRUCTURE OF HAIR AND TEACHES YOU WHAT TO DO TO MAKE YOUR HAIR HEALTHY.

This book is very well written. It's very easy to read and understand.
I've been doing what the author suggests to keep my hair healthy for about three months and have gotten good results. Every Black woman should buy this book!

13 May 2005
Cheryl, I am really enjoying Healthy Hair Care Tips for Today's Black Woman. You bring back hair care issues that I've forgotten over the years. The myths about washing your hair every two weeks and "greasing your hair" needed to be put to rest. I nearly got caught-up in the "Hair Product Junkie" situation when my hair began to fall out in my early 40s. People need to understand that these ads are hypes perpetrated on desperate women by corporations (who probably have all of their hair). There are so many issues in your book that needed to be written. I'll never stop reading it and will forever keep it on my reference bookshelf. I hope you'll continue your research and write more on all types of hair. As we know, the cultural scene changes almost yearly and new discoveries are abound. Keep on keeping on, Cheryl. Forever your hair fan.
minnie e miller
Author

I purchased this book after the birth of my second child to keep the hair I grew during my pregnancy. It was way too general. I need product reccomendations that are specific. Also, since I have purchased this book (almost 3 years ago) I have read Cathy Howse Ultra Black Hair Growth system, reccomendations and products. They have produced much better results ( esp. air-drying then curling, getting rid of protein in moisturizer, deep conditioning and moisturizing often often...). Don't get me wrong as there is some useful info. such as reduce heat on the hair which is good and you will get good results as far as your hair looking good. But I not only want good looking hair. I also want healthier, longer, growing hair and this was not enough information.Now, I am not wasting my money trying every product that comes out. Healthy hair "tips" is an fitting title. But if you need more try Cathy's book.

I highly recommend this book as a reference for black women who seriously want HEALTHY hair. There's a lot of valuable information in this book. I wish this book was around years ago - if only I'd known then what I know now... My hair would be in a lot better condition. After a year of searching for a stylist, I finally found Ms. Cheryl and I couldn't be happier. It's a good feeling to know that my hair is in good hands. Plus, she tells it like it is. On my first appointment she studied my hair, told me all the things that I'd been doing wrong and then told me that "we" were going to work together to get my hair healthy. Then she told me that the first thing I needed to do was to "throw out my hot curlers." I nearly fell out of my chair. I didn't know what I was going to do without them, but I trusted her and she hasn't let me down. I look forward to every appt. and I'm already getting compliments about my new do :) Plus I bought the book for my cousin a "kitchen-trician" and she loved it and shared it with her daughter. It's a wonderful book. Easy to ready with lots of pictures. It's definitely a must have!!

This is the perfect gift for a new mom or dad and children LOVE having it read to them before bedtime. The illustrations are the most adorable I've seen in a long time. A must have!

*My two year old son turns and recites the pages by looking at the colorful illustrations. This is a great book to read to interact with your toddler. They like the rhythm of the words and, the big bold pictures of a baby they can relate to.

It's a cute book (definitely one exhausted parents can relate to) but I think it's more appropriate for kids aged 2-3, although my 4 year old will read it once in a while.

This is my 2 year old's absolute favorite book and calls the main character by her own name because of the uncanny resemblance in both appearance and personality. We both love the rhythm and the illustrations, but I held one star back because I believe that it inspired some naughty behaviors. I definitely noticed more sand eating and wall art after we had read the book a few times. So be prepared!

Have you ever begged your kids to go back to sleep or thought that baby needs a nap? Well you can identify with what this baby gets into. Even though the child is told "no" to this or "don't" do that, you will find yourself laughing at the clever illustrations and expressions. The kids at the daycare believe that everything in the book could happen and realized that the clock depicted in each scene proves that naps are necessary. Now that is a positive reinforcement for parents. The illustrations are phenomenal - the details, color, and mischief depicted - will fill your heart with joy as well as provide discussion topics with your kids.

Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners

to a friend who has a Bi-racial Child, and was frustrated with the limited things that can be done with hair that does not come with instructions
I have seen her daughter since she got the book, and she is looking VERY cute, and loves showing off her newest hair style

This book was the most helpful on going natural. She's so thorough on everything that I am now making this my hair bible. It answered a lot of my questions.

Ms. Ferell did a splendid job with this book. I just did "the big crop" on August 30, 2004 after having relaxers in my hair since I was 12. I am now 32 and feel so much better about myself. This book really explains in detail how to care for natural hair. The only fault I had with it was that it did not give brand names of products that would be good with natural hair. Other than that, this is a book I refer to almost daily.

Sorry, not my cup of herbal tea mate!!
However I would say read as many books as you can on the subject then you would get a higher understanding.
This book is like having group therapy or interviewing other women,but it is not all black women's views.I am reviewng it because I think it is worth a read.

As you may or may not know African coily hair is quite unique in vision, texture, behaviour and probably in chemical make up too. Coily haired women around the world, go to the most extremes in terms of spending.
(Spending time, spending pain and the spending price to have African coily hair styled)
A hairstyle that we believe looks good or will help us to become socially and economically advanced.
Or maybe for our own self-esteem and maybe to attract the charms of a love interest.
Either way, psychologically and philosophically I believe that your hair is a reflection of the state of your consciousness, your internal beliefs and your relationship with the world.
What about exploring physics through african hair?
For example how much pressure, gravity and tension and tearing do we put our hair through by combing it?
let alone excessive harsh combing.
Mathematically speaking how many of you readers can tell me how many curls/coils per inch your hair has, and does it vary in coil and moisture?
Next question:When does the nature of the hair change and why?
(i know it does!)
It seems to me all these books on afro hair are good and I welcome it, but we still need to be more informed and they all seem to need better editing, just like Black American beauty magazines.I must campaign for better grammar and less air brushed photos!!!
It is as if we like to see ourselves falsely rather than the reality of what we are...
Black women need to demand more scientific reasoning from our books and be less competitive over black men which only fuels their egos and as a result probably creates more baby-mothers!!!
Sorry but I had to vent out my opinions.

I maintain that it is still worth reading,more than any carcinogenic chemical so called hair treatment that you pay for.

Anyway what do I know I am a black african british woman!!!!
Most of you Americans think we in Britain have no trains or any kind of progressive development!!!
Anyway if I wrote my book answering my questions that I put to you how many of you would buy it?

I resent squandering my faith in ordering this book. This is the most self serving waste of words I have ever ordered from Amazon. I expected a instructive and useful manual to help Black Women survive the hair wars. I expected helpful tips in understanding our hair & how to master the obstacles we encounter, ranging "yes, chemicals, but also the harsh environment. Some of us live in dry climates, humid climates, getting older & seeing hair changes, dry hair, thinning hair & to grow old with fabulous hair. something like this is what I call "talking hair", Instead, the first 50 pages address, "my spirtual journeys, daily affirmations & issues of not having loving parents?... is that why my hair is damaged? The last 150 pages are hair styles, mostly fake ones ( I can get in a fashion magazine for less!) One chapter gives useful instruction, so this book could have been 200 pages lesser and with thinner pages (like most books), instead of the 100# gloss paper used in half the book, giving false impression of providing volumes of useful instructions for desirous Black Women. Save your money, really! I am getting mine back!

The second in her installment of natural hair care and self-love, Lonnice has another winner on her hands with "Plaited Glory: For Colored Girls Who've Considered Braids, Locks, and Twists". She's managed to do what even exposure to other beautiful, natural sistahs couldn't do for years: get me to consider locks as an option for how to style my hair. And now, with so much attention given to locks--as well pictures of beautiful locked styles--I'm considering this option more and more. And of course, my hair will grow strong and healthy in the process, as well.

And as usual, there are Lonnice's anecdotes (who can forget "Stevie's People" without bursting into laughter? Or her imagining her mom as Shelley Winters and herself as Cleopatra Jones while taking down her self-made Afro puff?).

This book was one of the best resources i came across for naturals and I don't regret it one bit! Fun and reader friendly prose shows the author really knows her audience. I read it cover to cover when it arrived and though most of the information I could find online , the locs section was particularly helpful. I'm not ready to loc, but the author did a great job detailing the cost in terms of time and money of each of the (apparently) many ways of locing . The book was worth buying for this section alone , but i was pleased to find lots of great additional tidbits.

There were times where things seemed a bit clustered and pictures would have been helpful but still I highly recommend this book to anyone going natural!

I thought it was a funny and cute book, but overall it was not what I expected. My hair has been natural so I did not find the book too helpful. It was a nice read but if you are looking for a hair bible this is not it. This book is helpful only if you are unsure about going natural and would like to hear stories of another woman's hair story.

I bought this book on the "Bargain Book" aisle and I'm so glad I picked it up. My hair has been locked for 8 years, but I still learned so much about maintenance and care. This book is for you if you are just starting your locs or if you want to learn more about maintaining your locs.

This is a good book for basic care of natural hair. If you're considering going natural, you should definately pick this up. Plus, it's a good reference to have because it's information everyone can use.

I wish that everyone I know, regardless of their racial background, could get a copy of this book, because ultimately the unresolved pain in the black community affects us all. A good friend of mine recommended this book several months ago, and I am glad that she did. Terrie Williams takes a comprehensive look at subject that is often too "taboo" in the black community - emotional pain and mental suffering. And yet, if you look at a lot of things that plague our communities, from problems related to addiction, domestic-violence and other self-destructive patterns, you will find emotional pain and suffering almost always at the root. But we can't talk about these things freely (especially us men) because to do so is to be deemed weak - or so we think - or because of the myth that only "white people" have these kinds of mental illnesses. To not be well mentally, however, is just as bad as not being well physically and Ms. Williams does a great job of highlighting these facts and suggests ways to combat these problems. I highly recommend this book. I know from personal family experience the toll that unresolved pain does in the lives of families. I wish this book had been around when I was much younger...

If ever there was therapy in a book, Black Pain has it. Terrie Williams put her finger on a problem that has permeated black culture like an odorless gas seeps into a house and slowly poisons it's occupants. The pain so many feel and can't identify is like that poison, creating depression, drinking and drug problems, and overall unhappiness, as the underlying cause is ignored. This book brings the problem to light through Terrie's personal voice and honest telling of her own experience with this pain. This book should be read by every human being--to understand that racial double standards still exist and how it effects our brothers and sisters. Only with awareness can healing begin! Daylle Deanna Schwartz

I won't go into too much detail but I found this book depressing. The author, in my opinion, talked far too much about depressed people. There were several times where I had to put the book down and walk away from it because of the headache I was getting from it. By the time I reached the "help" section, I was thoroughly depressed. Unfortunately.

What a timely and necessary book. I had the honor of meeting the author this summer and she signed my copy. Excellent book. And we are both in the same profession; I even recommended it to my colleagues.

My Black people - stop faking. Get the help you need.

A very thoughtful and insightful view beyond the mask of so many. I was inspired by the book to become more sensitive and perceptive to the reality of depression. This book is a must read, and Terrie Williams has a way of making it a good read!

I wish this book had a little more information pertaining to loc maintenance. Other than that, it was a good buy.

This was a good book that teaches you about locs and caring for them so that they will be clean as well as healthy looking.

The book is excellent for people who are thinking about locks or who have had locks for years. I have had locks for four years now and I still learned a lot about maintenance and care of my hair. The pictures of the women helped too. One question: Where is the book for the brothers? As a man some things were universal (e.g. - my hair gets in my wife's face when we are having a "love connection"), but some things were just for women (e.g. - wearing different colored scarfs). Thanks for the advice!

Succinctly written it discusses the maintenance of dreads in a friendly manner. You get the feeling you're listening to a dear friend whose passion and expertise draw you in. A charming book and an excellent read. Buy it. Hug it.

I'm so glad I read this book before I loc'd my hair! I assumed that locs would be so easy to maintain...I was wrong. If you want "nice dreads" there is considerable maintenance and care required. I now understand why some locs look beautiful, and others not so much.

It is a really quick, easy read. If you are wondering what it takes to care for locs, I suggest getting this book.

This is definately an excellent read. I originally had to read this book for school but now that I have read the book, I purchased the book to add to my personal collection. Excellent depiction of what a black woman encounters when she suspects that she has depression.

Reading the excerpts of this book on your web site got me thinking deeply about my wife, who is presently looking for a place of her own. I just sent her the url to the excerpts and hope she will read it and change her mind and stay. Thanks for saving my marriage!

I read this book after going through a bad break-up with my fiance. It's wonderful to read about a black woman being totally honest about her emotions, her illness and her reality. I appreciated Meri telling her story without wearing the "Superwoman" mask mainstream America forces on black women. This was an eye-opening book and it helped me to realize that I don't have to wear the superwoman mask. It inspired me to be brave enough to be honest about my own emotions and vulnerabilities! Black women and men should read this book, and everybody else should too! Dispel the myths!

After experiencing several bouts with depression throughout my 30s--I am now 38 and the daily battle continues, this book caught my attention from another message board. I checked it out from my local library and finished it within 2 days. I could so relate to the author. Her story was very poignant and I appreciated her honesty. While medication has not worked for me I am trying a daily balance of selfcare to work with my depression. This is a book I will buy. Continued success to the author, her family and circle of friends.

I bought this book and didn't want to read it at first. I thought it would be too sad. But I read it anyway. I am sure glad I did. This book gave me the courage I needed to go find help for my own depression. Thanks Meri.

How are we all responsible for each other? This book will bring that connection quite clear.

I liked it best for introducing me to the concept of "structural violence" - essentially whenever the way an economy is set up guarantees that people at the bottom will be victims of violence - whether de jure (rape, murder) or de facto (preventable diseases, hunger). And also for introducing me to some excellent liberation theologians who reminded me that not all religious people are despicable hypocrites, and some top, top poets.

Farmer's perspective on countries full of structural violence like Haiti and "shock therapy" Russia is intensely personal, and his entire book comes from one who spends more time curing people than sitting in an office or library and writing. Not to say that is a good or bad thing, but that is the style in which the book is written.

Buy this book! Paul Farmer is a highly effective individual, and shows how one man can and did make a difference. He opens the window on what's going on in Latin America.

Paul Farmer, perhaps the most famous 'Third World doctor' living today, has written an eloquent and moving plea for a reconsideration of modern approaches toward healthcare in the developing nations in this book, "Pathologies of Power". Based on his personal experiences of care in Haiti, but also his professional visits to Russia, Africa, Central America, Mexico, Cuba and many other places besides, Paul Farmer demonstrates that the problematics of healthcare and those of poverty and inequality are insolubly linked in these nations. Whoever says "heal the sick" must also say "end poverty", for the one is not possible without the other; and whoever says "prevent disease" must also say "destroy socio-economic inequality", for the one is not possible without the other. That is the message of this book.

A large part of the work consists of reflections by Farmer on his experiences in Haiti and elsewhere and on the way in which the current worldwide economic structures engender a genuine and systematic violence against the rights of the poor. Strongly inspired by liberation theology (though not necessarily religious), Farmer eloquently and effectively contrasts the heavy importance attached to individual political and legal rights with the way in which the violations of rights done by structural inequalities and injustices is wholly ignored in the same circles that would complain about the former. Rights issues are the domain of jurists, development issues the domain of (liberal) economists; but the way in which the poor and weak are constantly crushed by the systematic repression that is poverty and inequality, at least as real and at least as much a violation as any torture, that seems to be the domain of nobody at all. As Paul Farmer clearly shows, even in the lately so blossoming domain of medical and bioethics the issue of socio-economic structures is completely swept under the carpet. As he says, this really is the "elephant in the room".

The same also goes for the oft-invoked importance of efficiency. Callous and counterproductive Western, often American, inspired healthcare policies in the developing nations (among which we must now sadly share Russia as well) generally fail at providing effective treatment against simple preventable disease such as TBC, because those medications that would actually help are considered "not cost-effective". This is in fact just a polite way of saying "we don't care about these people", but then phrased in a manner that will lead to less of an uproar in the newspapers. Farmer however is not fooled so easily, and sees this for what it is - a structural repression of the developing nations by the developed ones, in the name of "efficiency", i.e. efficiency in achieving the aims of the Western states.

This book is a very powerful work, and a strong indictment of the prevailing attitude towards healthcare and development issues and the little attention paid to their interrelation. It also demonstrates convincingly how the current worldwide economic system is bad for everybody's health. And what could be a more important thing than that?

Paul Farmer has long been famous, I take it, within the medical community as a brave lifesaver in some of the world's most destitute places. He's lived in Haiti for 20-some years, tending to the poor and sick. He used his success against tuberculosis there as a springboard into Russia, where he's helped prevent the spread of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDRTB) within and beyond the country's prison population. He is, to put it succinctly, a saint.

His fame spread to a much broader audience with the publication of Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer. Mountains Beyond Mountains is a hopeful, awe-inspiring, life-changing book. A couple years after reading it, I picked up Farmer's own Pathologies of Power, expecting great things.

It shouldn't be surprising that Farmer is a true Christian. Reading a lot of economics -- and even a lot of politics inspired by economics -- and then reading Farmer, I'm struck by how arid the former sounds in contrast to the latter. A cold calculus might explain to us why we should treat the poor well. Maybe we can justify redistribution to the poor because their utility from one marginal dollar is higher than that for a wealthy person. Or maybe we should aim to stop MDRTB in prisons because those prisoners will go out into the outside world and infect the nonpoor. Farmer cuts through that: *we should help the poor because they are poor, and it is our obligation as humans to serve the least fortunate*.

Not only that: we should help them because, in most every case, their poverty is a sign that we have failed them. Farmer angrily ticks off case after case, most of them straight from his first-hand experience, where what initially looks like a senseless, random death is seen to be a symptom of a deeper systemic problem. The most haunting of these may be the death of a young Haitian girl named Acephie who contracted HIV from a Haitian soldier. She had sex with him because soldiers are some of the few Haitians with dependable salaries. But what led Acephie into that position of economic dependence to begin with? It didn't help that the Haitian government, with the blessing of Western development agencies, had evicted Acephie's family years before to build a dam; the family had to move to higher, poorer ground because of someone's idea of what was good for them. The road from there leads more or less directly to the AIDS death of a Haitian girl. (James Scott's Seeing Like A State contains a lot more tragedies in this direction.)

Pathologies of Power is filled with stories like that. It is not a hopeful book; it is very, very bitter. This despite Kidder's blurb on the cover to the contrary: Kidder recognized the anger, but saw hopefulness that I didn't.

We won't permanently end the suffering of the poor, says Farmer, until we fix the causes of that suffering. He labels these causes "structural violence." Structural violence is what leads poor Haitians to die of preventable disease ("stupid deaths," to use the Haitians' phrase) because the World Health Organization deems their treatment "cost-ineffective," while pharmaceutical companies get wealthy and we argue over the cost-effectiveness of keeping old Americans alive longer. A world devoted to lifting up the least fortunate would stop the stupid deaths first. Drug companies and governments would help the poor *even if there were no money to be made from them*.

Based purely on its message, I couldn't recommend this book highly enough: everyone should learn to think like a true Christian in the midst of rapacious capitalism. But stylistically it's a chore; Farmer is angry, and is lashing out in all directions. His anger leads him to repeat himself 20 or 30 times throughout the book, and to offer very few actual solutions. Which is surprising: the man himself lives to solve the problems of the destitute.

So I think it's vital to differentiate Farmer The Man from Farmer The Author. That's also why I'd recommend that you go right out and read Mountains Beyond Mountains instead: it teaches the same powerful lessons, only a lot more concisely and inspiringly.

Great Book for females - I enjoyed reading the personal experiences these women shared in this book and could relate to some as well. It had me laughing out loud!

My boyfriend bought this book for me as a birthday gift, and I must say I was glad he did. Reading and becoming a fly into the lives of these women was better than watching Nip Tuck or Sex and The City or that crazy Flava Flav! They told ALL their business and secrets and left NOTHING out! Lying, back stabbing friends, mother-daughter relationships gone bad, raising kids, affairs, he said..she said, it's ALL in this book! Men and women will LOVE it! A perfect and easy TEN!!!

This book reminded me of a pow-wow me and my sisters have at least once a week where we share our stories with one another. I liked this book because it showed the progression of women. The different views on the same subject matters from a woman who is sixty and twenty was certainly an eye opener. I enjoyed this book ladies please keep reading.
Nikkea "Auset" Lewis

I thought this book might get boring because I thought it would be hard to relate to 40 and 50 year old women since I'm only 19. I was surprised to find that I could not put the book down. I would sit at my desk at work and be laughing out loud making everybody wonder "what is she reading?". I usually get tired of reading a book after the tenth page but I finished this book and wanted more. I can't wait for the Mister Gumbo to come out!

I'm a reader who enjoys books that are generous in nature. That is, books that are written with so much wisdom that one cannot help but to find themselves rendered gifted as the words enlighten and encourage.

"Sister Gumbo" is that sort of book. Much can be culled from these vignettes; from the openness of the interviews to the very descriptions of the women who divulge their lives. It is as if everyone involved is aware of the importance of this project. Once again we are in "the village" as sisters gather to educate and support one another. I openly laughed and cried as I read and reread.

I would give this book to any young woman, struggling woman, isolated woman, or foolish woman who could use the words of wisdom that are found in this gumbo. It is a treasure that our Grandmothers would want us to have. It should be, in my opinion, in the personal library of all women.