by Paul Farmer
First published 2011
Dr. Paul Farmer chronicles his response to the catastrophic earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. Drawing on three decades of work in Haiti, Farmer arrived in the capital just three days after the disaster with a volunteer medical team. His account documents both the immense suffering and remarkable resilience he witnessed among survivors. Farmer argues that Haiti's vulnerability stemmed from deep social inequities that transformed a natural disaster into something far worse. He weaves together his own observations with testimonies from fellow doctors, aid workers, and earthquake survivors themselves. The book examines how economic and social injustices created the conditions that made this catastrophe so devastating for the Haitian people.
Genres: history, medical, biography-memoir, 21st-century, current-affairs, africa, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: first-hand-account, social-commentary
Setting: Haiti, Port-au-Prince
Period: 2010
431 pages · Hardcover · PublicAffairs