Publishers Weekly
08/10/2020
Medical anthropologist Farmer (coauthor, Reimagining Global Health), cofounder of the international health-care organization Partners in Health, delivers an incisive and deeply informed account of the Ebola outbreak (“the largest in recorded history”) that engulfed West Africa in 2014. Placing the epidemic within the historical context of the transatlantic slave trade, European colonial rule, and more recent “diamond-fueled” civil wars, Farmer argues that the disastrous “control-over-care paradigm” used to combat Ebola had its roots in centuries of exploitation and neglect. He rejects explanations blaming the outbreak on “exotic practices and beliefs held to be common in this part of the world,” and characterizes Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, the three countries most severely afflicted, as “clinical deserts” where it was rational for people to be suspicious of authorities whose clear priority was to contain the disease rather than to provide adequate patient care (the mortality rate in some treatment centers was 50%). Farmer’s detailed synthesis of the history behind the crisis enlightens, but poignant profiles of victims, survivors, and physicians, including Dr. Humarr Khan, Sierra Leone’s “Ebola czar” who died from the illness, are the book’s greatest strength. This fierce and finely wrought chronicle offers essential perspective on fighting epidemics. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
"[The] history is as powerfully conveyed as it is tragic. Farmer takes the reader through many fascinating episodes . . . By the time the chronology returns to the events covered in the opening chapters of the book . . . the facts recounted are, technically speaking, the same, but in the reader’s mind, they have been transformed from isolated symptoms into a much more profound diagnosis." —Steven Johnson, The New York Times Book Review
"With exceptional empathy and care, Paul Farmer takes us through his experience with that health crisis and the difficult history that made those populations particularly vulnerable in his new book . . . the book begins as a true life medical thriller . . . If what we want in this moment is insight from this brilliant doctor about pandemics, he wants us to see that they do not occur in isolation." —Carolyn Kellogg, The Boston Globe
“As Paul Farmer asserts in his vital new book, the world has no business forgetting [Ebola’s] human toll . . . Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds is bold, humane and rigorously researched . . . Sure to be one of the definitive texts on the subject . . . Anyone who comes to this book with an open mind will find it hard to dispute his premise.” —Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle
“Eye-opening, densely detailed, and riveting . . . When it comes to Ebola in 2014, Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds is no armchair account . . . Only Paul Farmer, I think, in his ability to write so knowledgeably and with such love and hope for all of humanity, could coax me to read 526 pages of text about a viral outbreak during a viral pandemic . . . From Farmer we learn that a world needs not only a COVID vaccine, but something much more: a rejection of global racial inequalities and an embrace of investing seriously in the care of all people.” —Barbara J. King, NPR
"Farmer provides poignant personal accounts by Ebola survivors and health-care workers, a detailed history of the three Ebola-affected countries, and coverage of post-Ebola life, including the complications of the viral infection . . . A challenging, consequential, and tragically timely book about the forces that sculpt epidemics and the necessity of compassion and altruism in caring for their victims.” —Booklist (starred review)
“This story of the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak by an expert lacks the media hysteria common at the time but manages to be even more disturbing. Farmer, the chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard and founding director of Partners in Health, has spent his life delivering medical care to undeveloped nations—and writing engagingly about his experiences . . . Readers will be surprised to learn that, despite lurid accounts such as Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone, Ebola is not a death sentence." —Kirkus Reviews
"An incisive and deeply informed account of the Ebola outbreak (“the largest in recorded history”) that engulfed West Africa in 2014. Placing the epidemic within the historical context of the transatlantic slave trade, European colonial rule, and more recent “diamond-fueled” civil wars, Farmer argues that the disastrous “control-over-care paradigm” used to combat Ebola had its roots in centuries of exploitation and neglect . . . Farmer’s detailed synthesis of the history behind the crisis enlightens, but poignant profiles of victims, survivors, and physicians, including Dr. Humarr Khan, Sierra Leone’s “Ebola czar” who died from the illness, are the book’s greatest strength." —Publishers Weekly
“In his latest work, Farmer focuses on Ebola but also has relevant lessons for life during COVID-19. Blending medical history and anthropology, this book brings newfound awareness to the interconnectedness of West Africa, Europe, and the United States throughout the centuries . . . Throughout, readers are immersed in Farmer’s own recollections of his time working in West Africa and will be moved by the interwoven recollections of Ebola survivors along with the stories of those who died from the disease.” —Library Journal
“Paul Farmer brings his considerable intellect, empathy, and expertise to bear in this powerful and deeply researched account of the Ebola outbreak that struck West Africa in 2014. Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds is a tribute to the men and women who perished caring for the sick, a celebration of those who survived, a rigorous work of historical analysis, and an urgent call to action in a world where inequality and epidemic disease continue to collide. It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book.” —Bill and Melinda Gates
"Paul Farmer's devastating account of catastrophic disease and death created by unjust systems, structures, and abusive history is timely, urgent and terrifying. This moving and compelling book is a tragic but necessary journey guided by an extraordinary anthropologist, historian, teacher, writer, and doctor who has served the poor and disfavored for decades. He has much to teach us in these perilous times." —Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy
“Paul Farmer’s extraordinary, heart-rending book is a report from the trenches about people from many countries fighting, together, one of the toughest medical battles imaginable. It will leave you inspired, at times weeping, and with a deeper understanding of the way diseases are caused not just by viruses and bacteria, but by centuries of inhumanity.” —Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost and Rebel Cinderella
"In this riveting and beautifully written narrative, Paul Farmer gracefully intertwines memoir, biography, and the personal stories of medical professionals from Sierra Leone to provide a critically important corrective to the popular misconceptions concerning the African response to Ebola. Ultimately, Farmer challenges us, in the midst of the current pandemic, to act with decency and compassion as we struggle towards solutions." —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
“This book could not be more timely. Using memoir and biography, social analysis and historical context, the great Paul Farmer paints a provocative picture of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and illustrates how inequality and exploitation can fuel the spread of a deadly virus. It’s a riveting, relevant read from cover to cover.” —Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation
“Farmer provides an insightful frontline account of the West African Ebola epidemic, and the interlocking vulnerabilities that fueled the international emergency. People and the everyday act of caring are rightfully at the heart of the book, with a strong reminder that epidemics move along the fault lines in society. As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds is important reading for understanding what is at stake and how we can collectively do better.” —Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
"Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds exemplifies Paul Farmer’s steadfast, world-changing commitment to health as an unassailable human right. In this tour de force, he wields the concision of a physician, the clear-eyed consideration of an anthropologist, and a moral compass fixed towards justice—what results is a profound meditation on the complex, compounding forces of colonialist legacies and global health frailties that fueled the West African Ebola Epidemic as it raged on." —Pardis Sabeti, professor of biology, Harvard University
Library Journal
10/01/2020
In his latest work, Farmer (cofounder, chief strategist, Partners in Health; Harvard Medical Sch.; Reimagining Global Health) focuses on Ebola but also has relevant lessons for life during COVID-19. Blending medical history and anthropology, this book brings newfound awareness to the interconnectedness of West Africa, Europe, and the United States throughout the centuries as each region navigates global health challenges, and shows how the 2014–16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to affect the social underpinnings of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea today. The book spans three sections: an overview of Ebola and its appearance in West Africa, a history of West Africa and why it is a clinical desert, and a section on understanding how viruses work and what it takes to stop the spread. Throughout, readers are immersed in Farmer's own recollections of his time working in West Africa and will be moved by the interwoven recollections of Ebola survivors along with the stories of those who died from the disease. VERDICT Recommended to all interested in a moving, impassioned overview of the economic and social forces of colonialism and racism that have directly impacted public health historically, during the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and today, during the COVID-19 pandemic.—Rachel M. Minkin, Michigan State Univ. Libs., East Lansing
Kirkus Reviews
2020-08-27
This story of the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak by an expert lacks the media hysteria common at the time but manages to be even more disturbing.
Farmer, the chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard and founding director of Partners in Health, has spent his life delivering medical care to undeveloped nations—and writing engagingly about his experiences. In his latest, the author describes the epidemic that likely killed many more people than officially reported. Readers will be surprised to learn that, despite lurid accounts such as Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone, Ebola is not a death sentence. Treatment involves routine hospital care, especially the replacement of lost fluids intravenously. Deaths were rare in victims evacuated to Europe or America but more than 50% in Africa. Farmer reserves special ire for international organizations proclaiming that simply treating individuals would never defeat the epidemic. Aggressive control measures, including quarantine, contact tracing, and sanitation upgrades, were required. It’s a no-brainer, Farmer points out, that sick people want care, and he continues his careerlong, morally sound argument that access to proper health care should be a universal right. Having recounted the epidemic in the first third of the book, the author steps back to describe how the region’s history made disaster inevitable—and what the future may hold. Of the nations involved, Sierra Leone and Guinea were colonies until after World War II. Trade has always supported the economies, at first via the slave trade and then extraction—mostly lumber and mining—which benefits wealthy locals and foreign industries. Often kleptocratic governments have built little health infrastructure, and what they did create was often destroyed by vicious civil wars. A final chapter reveals that Farmer and colleagues are now dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, which many developed nations are handling more or less efficiently. Though not yet severely affected, many countries in Africa are unprepared.
Insightful, as always, but hardly encouraging.
