Tending to Our Wounds - by Edna Bonhomme

Book Synopsis

A profound and poetic memoir, tracing the wounds that racism and colonialism have left on Black people across borders.

With astute insight and immersive prose, Bonhomme outlines a personal and political history of life in the United States, Haiti, and Germany, discovering what it means to be Black at home and abroad. She unlearns the lies that she was told about slavery and colonialism and explores how communities are resisting the weight of centuries of history.

Whether examining debt, medical racism, art, or reparations, Tending to Our Wounds cuts a breathtaking course between the past and the present, the individual and the collective--identifying the tendrils of history in the everyday and outlining a path to real freedom.

Review Quotes

Praise for A History of the World in Six Plagues

"A searing attack on historical injustices."
--Kirkus Review

"Bonhomme's frank, timely critique of the Western medical field and our faltering health care system reveals how it is deeply entangled with colonialism and capitalism."
--BookPage

"Pandemics thrive on inequities and widen them, providing more kindling for future plagues ... if everyone read Edna Bonhomme's incredible, humane, insightful book--and I hope they do--we might stand a chance of actually breaking the cycle of neglect and panic."
--Ed Yong

"A breathtaking journey through the intertwined histories of contagions and systemic inequities that have shaped our history. Poignantly insightful and compelling, Bonhomme not only sheds light on past injustices but challenges us to confront our history and envision a more compassionate future."
--Uché Blackstock

"This meticulously researched book shows us the ways that contagious illness frustrates humankind's instinct for control, and how people have found ways to care for one another in the worst of circumstances. A powerful book that shines a light on the parts of life we'd rather ignore, and the beauty that can arise from horror."
--Sarah Jaffe

"Edna Bonhomme narrates centuries of the human-microbial dance, laying out how our destinies, liberties, and values are determined by how humans negotiate life on earth with our smallest living neighbors. Brilliant, tender and illuminating." --Steven W. Thrasher

"An expansive portraiture of how colonialism and confinement have influenced our understanding of illness and humanity. Thankfully, due to the author's talent and sheer strength in combining personal narrative with history, this book is also tender as it tackles some of the most stigmatized subjects of our time."
--Morgan Jerkins

About the Author

Edna Bonhomme is a critic, historian of science, and journalist. She earned a PhD in history from Princeton University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Public Health from Columbia University. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Esquire, The Guardian, London Review of Books, and The Nation. She is co-editor of After Sex, a literary anthology on abortion and reproductive justice, and the author of A History of the World in Six Plagues. Bonhomme has earned awards from the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Robert Silvers Foundation. She has lived in Berlin since 2017.