Inflamed

March 1, 2021

Marya, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, now helping to establish the Mni Wiconi Health Clinic and Farm at Standing Rock, and the the New York Times best-selling Patel (The Value of Nothing) argue that human health is profoundly impacted by issues of social justice.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 24, 2021
Physician Marya, cofounder of the Do No Harm Coalition, and University of Texas research professor Patel (The Value of Nothing) examine the social and environmental causes of ill health in this thought-provoking treatise. Taking eight bodily systems in turn, they explain the basic functions of each system and how nongenetic factors contribute to malfunctions. For example, the section on the immune system describes how “age-related diseases of chronic inflammation,” such as diabetes and Alzheimer’s, have been linked to cellular damage caused by “stress, trauma, and environmental toxicity,” and why “historically oppressed groups,” such as Blacks and Indigenous Americans, had higher death rates from Covid-19. Turning to the respiratory system, Marya and Patel note that “working-class people are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of pollution and are more likely to have diseases driven by inflammation that makes that exposure more lethal.” In the book’s final section, they propose “deep medicine,” a holistic practice designed to personalize the relationship between the patient and healer while “resisting colonial cosmology,” as a means of healing illness and liberating individuals from the “prison” of oppressive systems. Though highly technical at times, this is a persuasive argument for the need to address the systemic problems that plague people’s minds and bodies. Agent: Kristine Dahl, ICM Partners.

June 15, 2021
A passionate exploration of world poverty, racism, injustice, and colonialism that draws a parallel to inflammation. Marya is a physician, professor of internal medicine, and activist, and Patel is a professor of public affairs and nutrition and the author of the 2010 bestseller The Value of Nothing. In this collaboration, the authors explain that when tissues are damaged or threatened, our immune system sends cells and molecular messengers that attack invaders, repair damage, and restore the body to health. Sometimes, "the response doesn't switch off, and the result is a chronic inflammatory state. When that happens, the body's healing mechanism is transformed into a smoldering fire that creates ongoing harm." We suffer more chronic inflammation as we get older, and external factors (environmental toxins, stress, malnutrition) are the leading causes. The authors are far from the first to stress chronic inflammation's role in cancer, heart disease, diabetes, colitis, mental illness, dementia, and even aging, although they give it perhaps more credit than it deserves. They are rigorous scientists, so readers will learn a great deal as they describe human biological systems, focusing on the damage inflicted by inflammation but casting a wide thematic net. The chapter on the reproductive system eschews parallels with inflammation in favor of linking colonialism to the oppression of women. The obligatory how-to-fix-it conclusion will leave some readers scratching their heads. Having described a world of Orwellian awfulness, the authors propose not mass action but "deep medicine." They write that individuals can be healthy "only when the entire community is also healthy...this is achievable only through social, economic, political, ecological, and cosmological spheres working in an integrated fashion for the benefit of all." This may remind older readers of the ideals of universal harmony and spiritual growth that marked the 1960s, but the authors are persuasive in most of their arguments about the deleterious physical and mental effects of capitalism and colonialism. A valiant effort to link medicine and injustice: thought-provoking, knowledgeable, and ripe for debate and further study.

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Starred review from August 1, 2021
Inflammation is everywhere, physician, activist, and cofounder of Do No Harm Coalition Marya and best-selling author Patel maintain. The planet is inflamed and so are our individual bodies. It took the COVID pandemic to expose "the combustible injustices of systemic racism and global capitalism," they write. More ominously, they conclude, "The world has been organized to burn." This doleful opinion is evidenced by such symptoms as record-breaking global temperatures and raging wildfires. As they explore the many aspects of inflammation, Marya and Patel use the body as a useful analogy, given its immune, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, reproductive, endocrine, and nervous systems. As they note, inflammation isn't a disease but rather a sign "of a larger problem." That is what they attempt to unpack by exploring the daily traumas of biased law enforcement, acute poverty, hunger, discrimination, forced displacement, and exposure to toxins. As they note, not all patients are equal. Inspired by the work of Frantz Fanon and Michel Foucault, among others, the authors examine the "myriad ways" systemic injustice impacts mind and body under the stress of eugenics, exposure to various kinds of trauma, and medical dehumanization. This is a powerful, knowledgeable, and important work about the dangerous connection between health and societal injustices and how it can be resolved.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2021

Most social justice movements have recognized that the health of oppressed people is worse than the health of those in power. This well-written, compelling book expands on that idea with the concept of "deep medicine," which looks at health disparities brought on by colonialism, politics, and capitalism. Marya (medicine, Univ. of California, San Francisco; founder of Do No Harm Coalition) and Patel (Sch. of Public Affairs, Univ. of Texas, Austin; Stuffed and Starved) write that human health is impacted by one's environment and exposome (a measure of everything an individual is exposed to in a lifetime), so poor living conditions, poverty, environmental destruction, and oppression all have health effects. They examine the exposome's impacts on different organ systems (immune, circulatory, digestive, respiratory, reproductive, endocrine, nervous) and connective tissue, and conclude by calling for a new medical culture of care that looks at the total environment and community, not just the individual. Particularly moving chapters highlight health care inequality in the United States that particularly affects Black Americans and Indigenous peoples; examples include racial disparities in COVID-19 infection and recovery rates. VERDICT An excellent book for anyone concerned with health, community, or the environment. The accessible writing will draw readers in.--Margaret Henderson, Ramona, CA

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.