American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 154, No. 2 : 188
Copyright © 2001 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
BOOK REVIEWS |
From the Editor
The genre of books that provide a broad social, cultural, and historical context for issues of concern to epidemiologists deserve attention and should, in the opinion of your editor, occupy an important place in one's library. Good examples are Randy Shilts' And the Band Played On, the story of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco (1
), Susan Resnick's Blood Saga: Hemophilia, AIDS, and the Survival of a Community, an ethnographic approach to the history of the "bleeding disease" (2), and Alan Derickson's Black Lung: Anatomy of a Public Health Disaster, to which we drew attention in the last issue of the Journal (3). Two additional books of the genre have recently been reviewed and deserve consideration.
The first is Kenneth Carpenter's Beriberi, White Rice, and Vitamin B: A Disease, A Cause, and A Cure (4). In this profusely illustrated and thoroughly documented 282-page volume, the author provides a history of the impact of the disease on various populations, describes the events and research leading to elucidation of the cause, and confronts controversial issues arising in the prevention and control of the disease. Two useful and informative reviews are noted, one by Anne Hardy in the New England Journal of Medicine (5) and another by Alfred Bollet in the Journal of the American Medical Association (6).
The second is Christian Warren's Brush With Death: A Social History of Lead Poisoning (7). The toxicity of lead, along with its many uses, has been known since antiquity. Nevertheless, controversies over its hazardousness continue to this day. Warren provides a broad view of these issues and lays emphasis on the role of pioneer occupational epidemiologist, Alice Hamilton, in the battle to protect children from the harmful effects of lead exposure. The book is enthusiastically reviewed by Ronald Gots in the Journal of the American Medical Association (8).
In this issue, James Chin reviews Infectious Disease Epidemiology: Theory and Practice, written and edited by K. E. Nelson, C. M. Williams, and N. M. H. Graham (9).
REFERENCES
- Shilts R. And the band played on. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987.
- Resnik S. Blood saga: hemophilia, aids, and the survival of a community. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1999.
- Derickson A. Black lung: anatomy of a public health disaster. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998.
- Carpenter KJ. Beriberi, white rice, and vitamin B: a disease, a cause, and a cure. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
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Hardy A. Review. N Engl J Med 2000;343:588.
[Free Full Text] -
Bollet AJ. Nutrition history. (Review). JAMA 2000;284:2935–36.
[Free Full Text] - Warren C. Brush With death: a social history of lead poisoning. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 2000.
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Gots RE. Lead poisoning. (Review). JAMA 2001;285:1221.
[Free Full Text] - Nelson KE, Williams CM, Graham NMH. Infectious disease epidemiology: theory and practice. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, 2001.
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