To Repair the World - (California Public Anthropology) by Paul Farmer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Doctor and social activist Paul Farmer shares a collection of charismatic short speeches that aims to inspire the next generation. One of the most passionate and influential voices for global health equity and social justice, Farmer encourages young people to tackle the greatest challenges of our times. Engaging, often humorous, and always inspiring, these speeches bring to light the brilliance and force of Farmer's vision in a single, accessible volume.

A must-read for graduates, students, and everyone seeking to help bend the arc of history toward justice, To Repair the World:

• challenges readers to counter failures of imagination that keep billions of people without access to health care, safe drinking water, decent schools, and other basic human rights
• champions the power of partnership against global poverty, climate change, and other pressing problems today
• overturns common assumptions about health disparities around the globe by considering the large-scale social forces that determine who gets sick and who has access to health care
• discusses how hope, solidarity, faith, and hardbitten analysis have animated Farmer's service to the poor in Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Russia, and elsewhere
• leaves the reader with an uplifting vision: that with creativity, passion, teamwork, and determination, the next generations can make the world a safer and more humane place.

From the Back Cover

"Paul Farmer speaks directly to young people grappling with big decisions: about the values they will live by, the work they will choose, where their responsibility for other people begins and ends. But these questions concern all of us. And, for anyone struggling with these issues, I can't imagine a more challenging yet inspiring guide than Paul Farmer."--Jim Yong Kim, former President of the World Bank Group, cofounder of Partners In Health

"Whenever there is a need, Paul is the first guy out the door. His humility is legendary and one hundred percent genuine. Medical students all over the world have told me they entered our shared profession because of Dr. Paul Farmer. Now, it is time for the rest of the planet to be inspired, and in these pages they learn what it takes To Repair the World."--Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN and Associate Chief of Neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine

"Here is Paul at those special moments when we want and need a moral exemplar, calling us to do what good we can for those who have nothing, who are broken, who are left behind, who are sick and disabled, who need to be accompanied, and whose betterment betters us."--Arthur Kleinman, Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University

"Paul Farmer has a knack for persuading an audience to participate in his lectures, whether aloud or in silence. The liveliness of his talks comes in part from his delivery, but also from the qualities of the lectures themselves: the freshness of their ideas, their wit, and their passion. And these, thankfully, are qualities which this collection preserves."--Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of a New Machine, Among Schoolchildren, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and other titles.

"Paul Farmer is the most compelling voice for justice in a generation. In this volume are the stories and insights that have helped thousands of students imagine--and fight for--a better world. Read this to be inspired. Read this to learn. Most importantly, when you're done, give this book to a friend and join the movement for health equity."--Jonny Dorsey, cofounder of FACE AIDS and Global Health Corps

Review Quotes

"The publication of this book is timely. It would make a perfect gift for a medical or biology graduate, but it would be inspiring to anyone who reads it. His speeches make one feel empowered ― to make a difference, to contribute to health policy, to accompany another who is struggling. In the speeches collected in To Repair the World, Dr. Farmer teaches us crucial lessons that we must all learn from, as scientists, as doctors, and as human beings."-- "Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine"

"...[To Repair the World] does not disappoint."-- "Los Angeles Review of Books"

""With humor and passion, medical anthropologist Paul Farmer advocates a cure for society and the planet."-- "Nature"

"[Farmer] offers an anthology of 19 speeches on global health initiatives delivered between 2001 and 2012. . . .[from which ] readers will emerge with a heightened sense of the responsibilities and sacrifices required of future public servants."-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Paul Farmer is cofounder of Partners In Health and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His most recent book is Reimagining Global Health. Other titles include To Repair the World, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor; Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues; and AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, all by UC Press.