From Library Journal
Physician and anthropologist Farmer studied the impact of AIDS on the impoverished people of Haiti, and his portrayal for his doctoral dissertation, of a small rural village--its clinic, religious life, folk healers, and voodoo beliefs--brings Haitian culture powerfully to life. He provides an extensive history of the country, finally exploring the connection between suffering and blame: Americans have blamed Haitians for "causing" AIDS, while Haitians have accused one another of "sending" it through sorcery. Rarely is a book based on a dissertation so engaging. Highly recommended for academic and subject collections.- Judith Eannarino, Washington, D.C.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Washington Post Book World
"This study traces the introduction of AIDS in Haiti to, most probably, U.S. gays who had sex with Haitian men during visits to the country, but notes the persistent misunderstandings about the syndrome's Haitian incidence."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Does the scientific "theory" that HIV came to North America from Haiti stem from underlying attitudes of racism and ethnocentrism in the United States rather than from hard evidence? Anthropologist-physician Paul Farmer answers in the affirmative with this, the first full-length ethnographic study of AIDS in a poor society.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal