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Reviews tagging 'Racism'
Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History by Vidya Krishnan
3 reviews
talonsontypewriters's review
informative
medium-paced
2.75
interesting information, but horrendous organization thereof; I really do not think you needed to go into that much detail about the history of patent law. also, despite the title and blurb, covers a relatively limited period of time and geographical range in TB's history and isn't so much about how TB has shaped society as how systematic issues affect how TB patients are treated (important and interesting in and of itself, but not what the book is advertised as being about)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Blood, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
henrismum's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Non-fiction
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: I have an idea for a romance novel I will probably never write involving a protagonist's mother who has TB circa the 1920's. This was an amazing book, but didn't deeply cover TB outbreaks in NYC during the time I am interested in. Instead, the author wrote about India and the problems getting fair and effective treatment for TB sufferers on the sub-continent.
Will I read more by this author / about this subject?Probably Not Maybe Definitely
I will see if there's a book that addresses the demographic I want.
The narrator was Sneha Mathan. The author did an incredible job writing, and the reader made this book easy to listen to.
Source: LA Library
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: I have an idea for a romance novel I will probably never write involving a protagonist's mother who has TB circa the 1920's. This was an amazing book, but didn't deeply cover TB outbreaks in NYC during the time I am interested in. Instead, the author wrote about India and the problems getting fair and effective treatment for TB sufferers on the sub-continent.
Will I read more by this author / about this subject?
I will see if there's a book that addresses the demographic I want.
The narrator was Sneha Mathan. The author did an incredible job writing, and the reader made this book easy to listen to.
Source: LA Library
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Classism
chrisiant's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
This was fascinating and infuriating.
There were connections to so many subjects: patent policy, urban planning, failures of the private health care system, colonialism and ongoing exploitation of the global South, vampire stories, and on.
I wish there had been one straightforward chapter on the pathology - I kept looking back to see if I’d missed it. I was surprised to learn that TB can infect the brain, bones, and kidneys as well as the lungs. I found it bizarre and upsetting how much shame and stigma is associated with TB, when we treat cancer victims like heroes. One of the many upsetting things I learned about what folks with TB have to navigate, from judgy neighbors to Byzantine health care systems to global inequality and resource hoarding.
There were connections to so many subjects: patent policy, urban planning, failures of the private health care system, colonialism and ongoing exploitation of the global South, vampire stories, and on.
I wish there had been one straightforward chapter on the pathology - I kept looking back to see if I’d missed it. I was surprised to learn that TB can infect the brain, bones, and kidneys as well as the lungs. I found it bizarre and upsetting how much shame and stigma is associated with TB, when we treat cancer victims like heroes. One of the many upsetting things I learned about what folks with TB have to navigate, from judgy neighbors to Byzantine health care systems to global inequality and resource hoarding.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Suicidal thoughts