All Health Politics Is Local - (Studies in Social Medicine) by Merlin Chowkwanyun (Paperback)

About the Book

"Health care is political. It entails fierce battles over the allocation of resources, arguments over the imposition of regulations, and the mediation of dueling public sentiments-all conflicts that are often narrated from a national, top-down view. In 'All Health Politics Is Local', Merlin Chowkwanyun shifts our focus, taking us to four very different places-New York City, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and central Appalachia-to experience a national story through a regional lens"--

Book Synopsis

Health is political. It entails fierce battles over the allocation of resources, arguments over the imposition of regulations, and the mediation of dueling public sentiments--all conflicts that are often narrated from a national, top-down view. In All Health Politics Is Local, Merlin Chowkwanyun shifts our focus, taking us to four very different places--New York City, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Central Appalachia--to experience a national story through a regional lens. He shows how racial uprisings in the 1960s catalyzed the creation of new medical infrastructure for those long denied it, what local authorities did to curb air pollution so toxic that it made residents choke and cry, how community health activists and bureaucrats fought over who'd control facilities long run by insular elites, and what a national coal boom did to community ecology and health.


All Health Politics Is Local shatters the notion of a single national health agenda. Health is and has always been political, shaped both by formal policy at the highest levels and by grassroots community battles far below.

Review Quotes

"The great strength of All Health Politics is Local is the rich data that Chowkwanyun presents in each chapter. . . . This, however, does not take away from the key contribution of [the book]: its emphasis on the uniqueness of each case, in contrast with conventional studies focused on the national level or based on large-n representative samples. . . . Chowkwanyun mounts a powerful defense of local politics and struggles as engines of social change where hopes for a better future find their material contours."--Contemporary Sociology

"A timely and important study. . . . This well-written and engaging book is a needed contribution to the historiography of health care and environmental health in the United States. . . . All Health Politics is Local is a vital resource for gaining that historical perspective."--H-Sci-Med-Tech

"A deeply engaging book that deserves a wide readership and demonstrates a promising scholarly trajectory for the author."--Journal of American History

"Deeply researched. . . . Chowkwanyun should be commended for capturing the texture of each site in its unique geographies and institutions."--H-Environment