PIH Books: Mountains Beyond Mountains


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Mountains Beyond Mountains Mountains Beyond Mountains
by Tracy Kidder
Random House (September 9, 2003)
Support PIH: buy hardcover from Amazon.com
Support PIH: buy paperback from Amazon.com

Pulitzer-prize winning author Tracy Kidder's best-selling book tells the story of the founding and achievements of Partners In Healthmainly through the eyes and experience of Paul Farmer and fellow co-founders Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White and Jim Yong Kim.

In a review for the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Bernard Hirschel wrote:

"For more than 20 years, Farmer has spent many months every year there [in central Haiti], often taking care of patients himself and continually improving the treatments offered by the clinic. These now include antiretroviral drugs... Through his patients in Cange, Farmer became interested in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. From Haiti, he exported treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to Peru and then to Siberia, achieving cure rates comparable to those in the United States. Through the Institute for Health and Social Justice (the research and education division of Partners in Health) and his associate Jim Yong Kim, he started a movement to lower prices for the second-line drugs necessary to treat resistant tuberculosis and successfully lobbied the World Health Organization for changes in treatment recommendations for tuberculosis. Readers may have heard some of this story before (Farmer has received a MacArthur award and the American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan Davis Award) and may have wondered, as I did, where he came from and how one man could accomplish so much. Kidder provides some explanations: he works nonstop, hardly sleeps, sees his wife and child for a day or so every few months, inspires an uncommon degree of devotion and enthusiasm among collaborators and potential donors, and tolerates planes and airports for days on end. In addition, the Boston medical establishment has bent rules and regulations to accommodate his needs. Convincing? Maybe. There remains something miraculous about Paul Farmer. Should one go out and buy Mountains beyond Mountains? By all means. Not only it is it an enjoyable book, but it is also very likely that a part of the $25.95 spent in purchasing it will find its way back to Haiti. That is more than can be said about many books."

RELATED ITEMS

Mountains Beyond Mountains moves more than mountains
The book Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder has inspired many to take up the cause of social justice and health care, according to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article explores the enduring popularity and influence of Kidder's account of PIH's early days in Haiti, quoting from PIH Executive Director Ophelia Dahl and from readers who have taken on projects ranging from an income-generation program for HIV patients in Africa to a children's hospital in Cambodia. Read the full article.

Joint appearance of Paul Farmer and Tracy Kidder available for online viewing

Paul Farmer and Tracy Kidder spoke to a packed house in Cambridge, MA, which had selected Mountains Beyond Mountains as the "Cambridge Reads" book to be read by the entire city. You can download or stream video of the event from the Cambridge Community Television website.