Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing [Import] [Hardcover]

John Robbins (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Tiburon, California: HJ Kramer, 1996; First Printing edition (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915811693
• ISBN-13: 978-0915811694
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #632,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Robbins is the author of The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less.

He is also author of the international bestseller DIET FOR A NEW AMERICA: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness, and the Future of Life on Earth, THE FOOD REVOLUTION: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World, HEALTHY AT 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World's Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples, THE AWAKENED HEART: Meditations on Finding Harmony in a Changing World, and RECLAIMING OUR HEALTH: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing.

John's work has been the subject of cover stories and feature articles in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Life, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and many of the nation's other major newspapers and magazines. His life and work have also been featured in an hour long PBS special titled Diet For A New America.

The only son of the founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire, John Robbins was groomed to follow in his father's footsteps, but chose to walk away from Baskin-Robbins and the immense wealth it represented to "...pursue the deeper American Dream...the dream of a society at peace with its conscience because it respects and lives in harmony with all life forms. A dream of a society that is truly healthy, practicing a wise and compassionate stewardship of a balanced ecosystem."

Considered by many to be one of the most eloquent and powerful spokespersons in the world for a sane, ethical and sustainable future, John has been a featured and keynote speaker at major conferences sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Beyond War, Oxfam, the Sierra Club, the Humane Society of the United States, the United Nations Environmental Program, UNICEF, and many other organizations dedicated to creating a healthy, just, and sustainable way of life. He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and lifetime achievement awards from groups including Green America. The widespread media attention he has received has included numerous appearances on national shows including Oprah, Donahue and Geraldo. When John spoke at the United Nations, he received a standing ovation.

John serves on the Boards of many non-profit groups working toward a thriving, just, and sustainable way of life. He is the Founder and Board Chair Emeritus of EarthSave International (earthsave.org), an organization dedicated to healthy food choices, preservation of the environment, and a more compassionate world. John is also the Board Chair of YES! (yesworld.org), which educates, inspires and empowers young leaders to take positive action for all life on Earth.

John's life is dedicated to creating an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet. He lives with his wife Deo, their son Ocean and his wife Michele, and their grandsons River and Bodhi in the hills outside Santa Cruz, California. The Robbins' offices and home run on solar electricity.

For information about John, for access to his articles and posts, or to sign up to be notified of his future posts and events, visit http://www.johnrobbins.info

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read This Book BEFORE You or Someone You Love Becomes Ill, August 28, 2003

By 

Susan C. Fincher (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing (Paperback)

Over the past thirty years I have read about 100 books on the subject of health. Among the very best of the books I have read are two of John Robbins' other books, Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution, but I don't feel the need to review these remarkable books; they have been well reviewed by others, and I recommend you check them both out in Amazon. However, I simply had to add my voice to the reviews of Reclaiming Our Health.

This book is predominantly about the medical establishment, what has gone wrong with it, and what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones (if you can get them to listen to you). It is not a condemnation of all things conventional nor an endorsement of all things alternative. Some of the greatest heroes of the book are M.D.'s practicing both conventional and alternative therapies. This book seeks to guide us to the best of both worlds while warning us about the dangers to be found in each. However, the worst dangers by far appear to be in the conventional medical establishment where the admonition "first, do no harm" seems to have been long forgotten.

This book made me cry. This book infuriated me. It is filled with one outrage after another. But wouldn't you rather read about them than be subjected to them (or watch your loved ones be subjected to them) by not being informed beforehand? I know I would.

This is one of those rare books that is truly empowering. That's what John Robbins does so well. He does the intensive research that most of us neither would nor could do. We are blessed by his enormous contribution to mankind.

And my fellow women, you will be shocked to read some of the material in this book on how women have been treated in society and how this has influenced the way we have been treated by much of the medical community. I have shared a bit of the information with co-workers and have actually seen jaws drop open. We have not been told the complete story of how dreadfully many women have been treated in our history. It is an abomination. (Written with apologies to all of the sincerely wonderful men out there.)

Rest assured that among the very bad news of this book is a good deal of hopeful news about prevention and treatments that are out there now, but this information will probably be a long time coming to the general public. It is only through leaders like John Robbins that we are blessed to know about it now.

Read this book before you or someone you love becomes ill. Read it and pass it on.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 10 stars Articulate accurate and timely, April 19, 2003

By 

MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing (Paperback)

Since I own and have read other books the author has written I was curious to see what he would share in this book on a subject that is so important to me and many Americans. And he certainly hasn't let me down.

The parts or chapters I liked so much and thank the author for, from the bottom of my heart are Part Two where he goes into great detail about the patriarchal medical system. It is worth the price of the book alone. I also like Part Three where he starts out with a quote from a signer of the Declaration of Independence (Dr Benjamin Rush) who said "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize itself into an undercover dictatorship". And he offers so much documentation of where and how the big boys of the AMA (American Medical Association) have even gone after their own members who dared not walk the party line. On page 185 he shares how from homeopaths, to midwives, and other nontraditional medical forms, the AMA has been the bully boys who wanted their monopoly and none others. On page 1996 onward he describes once again how the feminine professions which nursing was up until the 1970's, were main targets of the male member run AMA.

Now I was aware that one way the male physicians made midwifery which had been the norm well into the 1900's, illegal was to accuse the women delivering babies of being everything from witches, pagans and even communists. Yet delivering babies in the safe and secure environment had been good enough for Moses, Jesus, George Washington and most heroes and heroines but because the AMA had discovered there was big buck in babies they did everything in their power to make their way the only way to deliver babies and feather their nest along the way. And as the author notes on page 322 that while birthing centers and midwives are persecuted by the AMA the actual cesarean rate here in the United States is outrageous and is a procedure that the rest of the civilized world shuns.

On page 327 onward the author skillfully lays out documentation that shows that many of the plagues the world has suffered have not been cured by AMA style medicine but by common sense approaches like clean water and sanitary toilet system. Washing hands and handling food in a clean manner. And that malaria is kept at bay with more preventive means than medical ones.

I could go on, but I would prefer that you buy the book and if possible buy a copy for your local library if it does not have a copy. That is how important this book is.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book..., December 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Reclaiming Our Health: Exploding the Medical Myth and Embracing the Source of True Healing (Paperback)

"Reclaiming Our Health" is turning out to be one of the most influential books in my life, and I plan on giving every woman in my life a copy for Christmas this year.

Robbins explodes the myths and outright lies surrounding conventional medicine, alternative medicine, the American Medical Association, the tobacco industry and cancer research. And he doesn't just make wild accusations, he supports his work with a library of footnotes (some of which I've followed up on) and studies. I am honestly stunned and amazed at the horrible decisions made by America's medical community - shunning and destroying alternative approaches over the years, unleashing scare" campaigns to keep us supporting conventional medicine (and our doctors' wallets) and ignoring crucial medical data from alternative sources.

Did you know that the American Medical Association used to be a huge supporter of the tobacco industry & even while our Surgeon General had proof that smoking was horrible for you, they still refused to speak out against smoking... because then they would lose the financial support of the industry (and this didn't just go on for a year or two)? Did you know that chemotherapy & radiation, for most forms of cancer, do absolutely nothing in terms of life-span (sometimes even shortening it)? Did you know that infant mortality rates in the U.S. are higher than most developed, and even some "3rd World" countries, and that most C-sections & hysterectomies are completely unnecessary? Or that midwives have a much better track record (for infant mortality & complications), yet the AMA basically outlawed their use over the past 30 years?

Honestly - I think every single American, especially women and those in medical fields should read this book. It's not a conspiracy theory book, nor is it some crazy person spewing accusations at everyone - it is a brutally honest look at OUR HEALTH, and what is more important?