An American Health Dilemma, Volume One: A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race: Beginnings to 1900 [Hardcover]

W. Michael Byrd (Author), Linda A. Clayton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415924499 | ISBN-13: 978-0415924498 | Publication Date: August 15, 2000 | Edition: 1st

Beginning with the origins of Western medicine and science in Egypt, Greece and Rome, the authors explore the relationship between race, medicine, and health care. They offer an extensive examination of the history of intellectual and scientific racism that evolved to give sanction to the mistreatment, medical abuse, and neglect of African Americans and other non-White people.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the first of a projected two-volume work, the authors, both physicians and senior research scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health, document how, from their first arrival on these shores, blacks received inferior health care. Slaves faced a multitude of health risks: among them were accidents, whippings, cold, heat, exhaustion (pregnant slaves often miscarried) and poor sanitation. Planters rarely summoned white physicians to treat their slaves; generally, black grannies, midwives, root doctors and healers cared for their people. African-American health got worse during and after the Civil War, when the imperfect plantation health care system vanished overnight. A racist postwar society used Darwinism, biological determinism and skull measurements to argue that African-Americans were destined to poor health and extinction. In response, led by pioneering black doctors like James McCune Smith and David John Peck, African-Americans built their own medical schools and hospitals. Black physicians became community leaders and proclaimed health care a civil right. Still, at century's end, African-Americans were segregated and excluded from the mainstream health system. This is an important book, but it is not a well-organized, well-written work of history. The authors attempt to pack several books under one cover: a history of racism over the last 2,000 years; a survey of ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Arabian medicine; an indictment of the U.S. health care system and of modern America as a hopelessly racist land; and a book of political advocacy and reform. The best part of this volume is its last half, containing the actual history of African-American health from 1619 forward. The dense, stilted, academic prose style serves the authors poorly, but their book contains too much valuable information to ignore. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Byrd and his wife, Clayton, are affiliated with Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. Their book, the first of two volumes, presents current statistics on racial disparities in American healthcare as a prolog to a comprehensive and heavily documented history of healthcare by and for black Americans. The authors trace the history of African American medicine, from its traditional roots in Egyptian and sub-Saharan practices that were brought to the New World by slave healers and midwives, through the remarkable black doctors who broke the color line of 19th-century medicine, to the founding of Howard University's Medical School in 1867, and the beginning of its long and distinguished service to American medicine. This amazing story takes place, however, in the context of a parallel narrative outlining the appalling cruelty, neglect, and scientific racism that mark the medical history of the American slave trade and its post-Civil War aftermath. This path-breaking work and its future companion volume will long remain an essential reference for scholars and serious readers in both medical history and African American studies.DKathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida, St. Petersburg
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 588 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (August 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415924499
• ISBN-13: 978-0415924498
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,327,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Erudite study, February 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: An American Health Dilemma, Volume One: A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race: Beginnings to 1900 (Hardcover)

An American Health Dilemma is a brilliant book, well-written and with a strong scientific foundation. It is clear and accessible to the non-specialist as well as the specialist. The first part of the book, a survey of racist thinking in the West, is one of the best summaries I have read in years. The book is interesting in its sociological, public health and social theory aspects. The notes are very clear, so that if you want further information you know where to find it. I highly recommend the book. It is a treasure trove of information, not only for Americans but for others interested to find out more about the perplexing question of race and health.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Contemporary Challange to America's Health Care System, September 19, 2000

By 

Edward B. Blackman (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An American Health Dilemma, Volume One: A Medical History of African Americans and the Problem of Race: Beginnings to 1900 (Hardcover)

An American Health Dilemma, by W. Michael Bryd and Linda A Clayton presents the challenge of the gross disparity in health care in America. Tracing the history of Western racial bias which has informed the medical world's relation to people of African descent, the authors have presented a clear demonstration of the effects of racism on medical care in the United States of America. This perspective is an important one, as the nation again considers the disintegration of health care for all. This well documented study, is readable and challenging to all who are interested in the future of our society.