A review by erintby
Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor by Paul Farmer

5.0

This is one of those books I wish everyone would read. Farmer is a passionate physician-anthropologist who writes persuasively about social justice issues and human rights abuses in a way that is eye-opening and powerful. He calls for action to help the poor and the sick through pragmatic solidarity and advocates a preferential option for the poor in terms of access to health care. He argues that pursuing human rights from only a legal standpoint is ineffective and a waste of time-- social and economic rights must be recognized and addressed in order to truly stop the perpetuation of human rights abuses. It also was a very enlightening read to learn about the hypocrisy of so much of US foreign policy. I almost felt betrayed-- I was never taught this in high school in my US history classes. We need to acknowledge the injustices of the past rather than hide them, so that we can finally make appropriate changes in the future towards creating a just world.