In this excellent work, Pulitzer Prize-winner Kidder (The Soul of a New Machine) immerses himself in and beautifully explores the rich drama that exists in the life of Dr. Paul Farmer. A Massachusetts native who has been working in Haiti since 1982, Farmer founded Zanmi Lasante (Creole for Partners in Health), a nongovernmental organization that is the only health-care provider for hundreds of thousands of peasant farmers in the Plateau Central. He did this while juggling work in Haiti and study at the Harvard Medical School. (Farmer received his M.D. and a Ph.D. in anthropology simultaneously in 1990.) During his work in Haiti, Farmer pioneered a community-based treatment method for patients with tuberculosis that, Kidder explains, has had better clinical outcomes than those in U.S. inner cities. For this work, Farmer was recognized in 1993 with a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," all of which he donated to Zanmi Lasante. Using interviews with family members and various friends and associates, Kidder provides a sympathetic account of Farmer's early life, from his idiosyncratic family to his early days in Haiti. Kidder also recounts his time with Farmer as he travels to Moscow; Lima, Peru; Boston; and other cities where Farmer relentlessly seeks funding and educates people about the hard conditions in Haiti. Throughout, Kidder captures the almost saintly effect Farmer has on those whom he treats. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Founding director of Partners in Health, medical anthropologist, physician, and infectious disease specialist Farmer is one of the unsung heroes of the modern world, constantly moving among Haiti, Peru, and Boston. Pulitzer Prize winner Kidder shares his impressions and knowledge of and admiration for Farmer in this professionally produced biography. While the work is told in English, Creole, French, and Spanish words appear throughout. Paul Michael's speech is distinct, evenly paced, and foreign words are pronounced clearly. There are no background noises, tape hiss, or other distractions, and the final sentence of one side is repeated at the beginning of the next side, aiding in continuity. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Laurie Selwyn, Grayson Cty. Law Lib., Sherman, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Kidder, a master documentarian, has primarily practiced his art on his home turf, Massachusetts, proving that one small place abounds in amazing stories. Now, in his most compelling chronicle to date, this Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner investigates a far harsher world in the company of Paul Farmer, a radical public health reformer devoted to providing medical care to the poor, mainly in Haiti. A Harvard-educated medical anthropologist, TB expert, and MacArthur genius gifted with an unshakable moral imperative, an ardent imagination, and limitless energy, compassion, and chutzpah, Farmer created Partners in Health, a renegade yet hugely influential organization. A powerful presence, this uncompromising visionary is too spectacularly impressive not to be disconcerting, and Kidder shares his puzzlement over and occasional discomfort with this charismatic and tirelessly giving man who eschews personal comfort to care for the underdogs of the underdogs. As Kidder accompanies Farmer on his exhausting and risky daily routines and epic travels, he parses the cruel realities of deep poverty and the maddening politics of international health care. Most importantly, Kidder portrays a genuinely inspired and heroic individual, whose quest for justice will make every reader examine her or his life in a new light. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2003 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

This work chronicles the life of Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician and medical anthropologist who has become a leading expert on infectious diseases. Farmer is also cofounder of Partners in Health, an organization that collaborates with indigenous health care providers to establish clinics for underserved rural populations in Haiti, Peru, and Siberia. He began traveling to Haiti in the early 1980s and established Zanmi Lasante, a clinic that is located in a setting so inhospitable that all but one of the Haitian doctors whom Farmer employed chose to live elsewhere. Though Mountains beyond Mountains is intended as a biography, it focuses almost exclusively on Farmer's medical practice. Kidder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, writes clearly and engagingly as he invokes Farmer's saintly presence (inviting comparisons to Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa). At other times, however, Kidder allows Farmer's less saintly ambitions to emerge. This book is being widely used in freshman seminars at colleges across the United States, and it will likely stir debates on such wide-ranging issues as the politics of health care, the role of government funding, and ethics. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers and undergraduates. S. D. Glazier University of Nebraska--Lincoln From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Part I Dokte Paul	p. 1
Part II The Tin Roofs of Cange	p. 45
Part III Medicos Aventureros	p. 123
Part IV A Light Month for Travel	p. 179
Part V O for the P	p. 239
Afterword	p. 299
Acknowledgments	p. 303
Selected Bibliography	p. 305
A Reader's Guide	p. 319

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