Publishers Weekly
04/19/2021
New York Times reporter Goldberg debuts with a vivid and heart-wrenching portrayal of six doctors who graduated from medical school during the “first-wave peak” of Covid-19 in New York City. As the surge of cases “hit New York hospitals like a tsunami” in March and April 2020, some medical schools graduated fourth year students early so they could work at understaffed hospitals. Goldberg delves into the challenges her subjects, including the daughter of immigrants who practice traditional Chinese medicine and a young Hispanic woman raised by a single mother, faced as the health-care system failed to keep up with the demand for ventilators and personal protective equipment. Even Bellevue, one of America’s “most storied” hospitals and the nation’s leader in AIDS treatment, misjudged the threat: in January 2020, staffers were told that the “risk to New Yorkers is considered low.” Goldberg also sketches the history of medical training in the U.S., noting that reform efforts in the early 20th century led to the closure of Black medical schools and the rise of programs “designed for exclusivity,” and offers poignant scenes of her subjects coming to grips with the life and death nature of their work. This is a raw and emotional depiction of young professionals thrust into the middle of a crisis. (June)
From the Publisher
"Emma Goldberg's Life on the Line offers vivid, intimate portraits of brand-new doctors on the front lines of the greatest public-health crisis of our time. But it's also more than that: a carefully-considered meditation on morality in times of crisis, and what it really means, from every angle, to care for others when the world is coming apart. The result is devastating and miraculous — beautifully written, and overflowing with hope." — Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road and Lost Girls
"In this poignant, evocative, and timely book, Emma Goldberg follows six very young doctors as they try to face down the COVID crisis, recognizing that this disease, instead of serving to equalize all people in the face of death, came down unjustly hard on those with disadvantaged backgrounds. In telling their stories, she tells the real story of the pandemic. This is not only excellent reporting and writing, but also an important primary source, one of the books that future readers will turn to to understand this strange, nearly incomprehensible time we’ve been through." — Andrew Solomon, National Book Award winning author of The Noonday Demon and Far from the Tree
“Life on the Line is a fascinating story of rookie doctors in New York City entering the medical profession at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At a deeper layer, it is also a commentary on the changing faces and culture of medicine, and the implications of these shifts for the patients that we serve.” — Damon Tweedy, M.D., author of Black Man in a White Coat
“With her breathtaking debut, Emma Goldberg has indelibly painted the courage and commitment of young doctors hurled into the COVID pandemic mere hours after graduating medical school. And these are not just skilled and idealistic physicians, they are the vanguard of an increasingly diverse cohort of doctors confronting a disease that disproportionately slew Americans who have been shoved out of the mainstream — Black, Brown, poor, immigrant, elderly. For those of us who revere My Own Country, Abraham Verghese's classic account of small-town doctors reckoning with the onslaught of AIDS, Emma Goldberg has written the sequel for this present plague." — Samuel G. Freedman, author of Small Victories and Inheritance
"These six young altruists have much to teach us about how doctors are trained, how they think, how they function under pressure, and, most important, why they have chosen their difficult profession. Cynical readers in need of a shot of idealism need look no further than Emma Goldberg’s empathetic, well-reported, and moving account." — Anne Fadiman, National Book Critics Circle Award winning author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
“Emma Goldberg captures a unique moment in modern medical history, when students finishing their schooling are abruptly thrust into the role of bedside doctors to tackle a burgeoning pandemic. Beyond the psychological toll they incur as they struggle to save Covid patients is the real risk to their own health in providing care. Goldberg offers vivid portraits of young physicians who discover deep wells of courage and commitment that will inspire the reader as we take stock of those perilous early days.” — Jerome Groopman, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of The Anatomy of Hope
“This book is an essential contribution to our understanding and documentation of life during the pandemic. Goldberg paints a vivid portrait of a place, time, and loss that we should never forget.” — Susan Fowler, author of Whistleblower
"New York Times reporter Goldberg debuts with a vivid and heart-wrenching portrayal of six doctors who graduated from medical school during the “first-wave peak” of Covid-19 in New York City. This is a raw and emotional depiction of young professionals thrust into the middle of a crisis." — Publishers Weekly
"Goldberg's close-up look at inspiring, fast-tracked med-school graduates who became essential front-line pandemic physicians is bracing and invaluable. Still with lots to learn, these heroes already have so much to offer." — Booklist
"An inspiring story of a group of young doctors who endured a trial by fire." — Kirkus Reviews
Robert Kolker
"Emma Goldberg's Life on the Line offers vivid, intimate portraits of brand-new doctors on the front lines of the greatest public-health crisis of our time. But it's also more than that: a carefully-considered meditation on morality in times of crisis, and what it really means, from every angle, to care for others when the world is coming apart. The result is devastating and miraculous — beautifully written, and overflowing with hope."
Anne Fadiman
"These six young altruists have much to teach us about how doctors are trained, how they think, how they function under pressure, and, most important, why they have chosen their difficult profession. Cynical readers in need of a shot of idealism need look no further than Emma Goldberg’s empathetic, well-reported, and moving account."
Susan Fowler
This book is an essential contribution to our understanding and documentation of life during the pandemic. Goldberg paints a vivid portrait of a place, time, and loss that we should never forget.
Samuel G. Freedman
With her breathtaking debut, Emma Goldberg has indelibly painted the courage and commitment of young doctors hurled into the COVID pandemic mere hours after graduating medical school. And these are not just skilled and idealistic physicians, they are the vanguard of an increasingly diverse cohort of doctors confronting a disease that disproportionately slew Americans who have been shoved out of the mainstream — Black, Brown, poor, immigrant, elderly. For those of us who revere My Own Country, Abraham Verghese's classic account of small-town doctors reckoning with the onslaught of AIDS, Emma Goldberg has written the sequel for this present plague."
Jerome Groopman
Emma Goldberg captures a unique moment in modern medical history, when students finishing their schooling are abruptly thrust into the role of bedside doctors to tackle a burgeoning pandemic. Beyond the psychological toll they incur as they struggle to save Covid patients is the real risk to their own health in providing care. Goldberg offers vivid portraits of young physicians who discover deep wells of courage and commitment that will inspire the reader as we take stock of those perilous early days.”
Andrew Solomon
"In this poignant, evocative, and timely book, Emma Goldberg follows six very young doctors as they try to face down the COVID crisis, recognizing that this disease, instead of serving to equalize all people in the face of death, came down unjustly hard on those with disadvantaged backgrounds. In telling their stories, she tells the real story of the pandemic. This is not only excellent reporting and writing, but also an important primary source, one of the books that future readers will turn to to understand this strange, nearly incomprehensible time we’ve been through."
Booklist
"Goldberg's close-up look at inspiring, fast-tracked med-school graduates who became essential front-line pandemic physicians is bracing and invaluable. Still with lots to learn, these heroes already have so much to offer."
Damon Tweedy
Life on the Line is a fascinating story of rookie doctors in New York City entering the medical profession at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. At a deeper layer, it is also a commentary on the changing faces and culture of medicine, and the implications of these shifts for the patients that we serve.
Booklist
"Goldberg's close-up look at inspiring, fast-tracked med-school graduates who became essential front-line pandemic physicians is bracing and invaluable. Still with lots to learn, these heroes already have so much to offer."
Library Journal
01/01/2021
Goldberg expands on her reporting for the New York Times to tell the story of the young medical students in New York City whose newly assigned residencies in March 2020 put them front and center in the battle against the coronavirus. They took the Hippocratic oath via Zoom, then headed out to big New York hospitals like Bellevue and Montefiore that were under extreme stress. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
Kirkus Reviews
2021-04-10
A moving account of six medical students who graduated early in order to join the battle against Covid-19.
New York Times journalist Goldberg sets her scene close to home at Bellevue Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center, both of which were already understaffed and overwhelmed in April 2020. Medical schools teach essentials during the first three years; the fourth is generally elective, so leaving early is an option, and all New York City medical schools asked for volunteers during the pandemic. Not everyone stepped up, but the author offers appreciative profiles of those who did. Readers who hear that Covid-19 kills only a small percentage of its victims, comparable to the flu, will be shocked at the horrific suffering that her young doctors witnessed. Entering through the respiratory tract, the virus attacks the lungs, often leading to pneumonia and respiratory failure so severe that patients require a ventilator. However, early on, half of patients placed on a ventilator died. “Another challenge for the new doctors,” writes Goldberg, “was the pervasive fear of infection. For the most part, neither senior physicians nor new graduates had been trained to worry for their lives while caring for patients.” All struggled to establish trust while spending minimal time near patients and wearing bulky protective equipment that covered their faces. Although Goldberg’s subjects seem to be the crème de la crème of the medical profession, she digresses liberally into the establishment’s shortcomings. “American medical schools are still predominantly white and wealthy,” she writes. “This is partly because doctors are predominantly white and wealthy, and doctors tend to beget doctors.” White doctors spend more time with White than non-White patients, but Covid-19 kills far more poor and non-White victims, which is sadly true for most diseases. Goldberg concludes that the medical establishment is making a genuine effort to broaden medical culture and attract minorities, and her heroes, an admirably diverse group, are contributing mightily.
An inspiring story of a group of young doctors who endured a trial by fire.
