Overview

On January 12, 2010, a major earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people died, and the greater part of the capital was demolished. Dr. Paul Farmer, U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti, who had worked in the country for nearly thirty years treating infectious diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS, and former President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, had just begun to work on an extensive development plan to improve living conditions in Haiti. Now their project was transformed into a massive international rescue and relief effort. In his own words, Farmer documents this effort, including the harrowing obstacles and the small triumphs. Despite an outpouring of aid, the challenges were astronomical. U.N. plans were crippled by Haiti's fragile infrastructure and the death of U.N. staff members who had been based in Port-au-Prince. In chronicling the relief effort, Farmer draws attention to the social issues that made Haiti so vulnerable to this natural disaster. Yet Farmer's account is not a gloomy catalog of impenetrable problems. As devastating as Haiti's circumstances are, its population manages to keep going. Farmer shows how, even in the barest camps, Haitians organize themselves, creating small businesses such as beauty parlors. His narrative is interwoven with stories from Haitians themselves and from doctors and others working on the ground. Ultimately this is a story of human endurance and humility in difficult circumstances and seemingly overwhelming odds.

Full Product Details

9781665162517

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Dr. Paul Farmer, physician and anthropologist, is chief strategist and cofounder of Partners in Health, an international nonprofit organization that provides direct health care services to people living in poverty. Dr. Farmer is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Margaret Mead Award from the American Anthropological Association, the American Medical Association's Outstanding International Physician Award, and many others. He has written extensively on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality. Edwidge Danticat is the author of numerous books, including Brother, I'm Dying, a National Book Critics Circle Award and National Book Award finalist; Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection; Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist; The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; and The Dew Breaker, a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the inaugural Story Prize. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives in Miami. Meryl Streep, considered by many movie reviewers to be the greatest living film actress, has been nominated for an Academy Award an astonishing sixteen times and has won it three times. She has also garnered two Emmy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and six Drama Desk Awards. In 2004, she was awarded the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. She is also an Audie Award and Grammy Award-winning narrator.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available