Mountains Beyond Mountains Summary

For my summer reading, I chose to read Mountains Beyond Mountains: the Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. I chose this book without reading the description and mainly based my selection on the great reviews for this book online as well as the fact that the author, Tracy Kidder, had won a Pulitzer Prize in the past. Ultimately, this book turned out to be as remarkable as the reviews stated it was.

From a Marxist perspective health inequality is the result of an unequal distribution of power within society.

In the pieces, “Thinking like a mountain” by Leopold and “Big mac and Tropical forests,” by Skinner both demonstrate a clear message through their writings. Although Leopold used strong points to get his message across, Skinner grabs his audience's attention by using factual evidence instead of a personal experience. In Leopold's “Thinking like a mountain” the author discusses a big issue today involving wildlife and deforestation, trying to convince his audience about how to realize the issue at hand. On the other hand, Skinner’s “ Big mac and Tropical forests” talks about how in today’s day and age the economy is more focused on making money from putting in unnecessary fast food chains in the spots of Tropical forests. Even though these writings are very different they still

Social inequality is a problematic phenomenon that occurs all around the world and affects both the developed and developing nations. It is defined as “the unequal distribution of social, political and economic resources within a social collective” (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 205). Inequality is closely connected with social stratification, a system of social hierarchy that positions individuals and groups into categories according to social variables such as class or ethnicity (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 485). This stratification has a significant impact on the opportunity that an individual may have to move up the hierarchy of inequality (Gill 2017a).

The suffering and misery of the poor and destitute has long been reported on and documented by writers all over the world. The circumstances and stories of the less fortunate are accounted by authors who sometimes distance themselves from the people they write about. However, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder focuses on the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who works tirelessly to comfort the sick and dying in the poorest countries in the world. Instead of being a simple biography about a wonderful man, Kidder weaves his own message of human rights into the book. Kidder successfully conveys his message that universal healthcare is a right a not a privilege through the words and

These inequities in health and social indicators are perfect examples of the affect of political and economic factors that influence access to health services (Browne and Fiske 2001).

When the resources in a society are distributed unevenly it leads to social inequality. Often inequality is understood as being socio-economic and it is now closely associated with social inequality. “Social inequalities are differences in income, resources, power and status within and between societies. Such inequalities are maintained by those in powerful positions via institutions and social processes.” (Warwick-Booth, 2013 p.2)

From information gathered, my opinion is that this book had emotional effect on most people. It was tragic and sad and also a profound impact on readers when it was first published. It talked about the history of the white settlement of the American west which was told by the people who were there both white and indian which was not learned in school. It is a great book which present a people who loved the earth and respected human life. It also talked about the loss of a beautiful land and the demise of a conscientious and spiritual way of life and finally the extirpation of a nation of people. The interest in environmental issues was growing and the accounts of the destruction by the settlers of the Eastern forest, the soiling of the rivers

“The only real nation is humanity” (Farmer 123). This quote represents a huge message that is received in, Tracy Kidder’s, Mountains Beyond Mountains. This book argues that universal healthcare is a right and not a privilege. Kidder’s book also shows the audience that every individual, no matter what the circumstances, is entitled to receive quality health care. In the book Kidder represents, Paul Farmer, a man who spends his entire life determined to improve the health care of impoverished areas around the world, namely Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. By doing this the audience learns of the horrible circumstances, and the lack of quality health care that nations like Haiti

While reading To the Mountaintop by Stewart Burns, I was caught off guard when I learned about the amount of segregation rallies that took place during this time. I think that I was caught off guard when I learned about this because whenever the topics of segregation and desegregation, MLK, and racism come up, no one really speaks about the segregation rallies. I didn’t think that the white people had gotten together in big masses like what the African Americans had done in order to fight for what they believed in. I had always just thought that the white people were flexible with what was going on and acted more on the individual level than at the group level. When I was reading about the segregation rallies, I was shocked to learn about what was written on the flyers that were handed out.

Adequate health care for the poor is an issue that the whole world has been fighting for a very long time. There are many people that go without proper health care on a daily basis, leaving them susceptible to serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. In the book Mountains Beyond Mountains Dr. Paul Farmer understood just how crucial it was to provide decent health care for the needy. Many choose to believe that the lack of proper care only affects third world countries.

Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder is a biography written in 2003 about a benevolent Haitian doctor named Paul Farmer. In the first person point of view of Kidder, Kidder writes about Farmer’s beliefs, goals, and life events that relate to his work in Haiti. Even though Farmer, along with many other characters in Mountains Beyond Mountains, is clearly an optimistic person, Kidder struggled with seeing the hope and reason behind trying so hard to solve things that seemed obviously impossible to him. As a result, the constant interactions between pessimistic people and positive people, combined with the pessimistic character eventually becoming positive, shows that Kidder uses juxtaposition to prove that, to a very high extent, Kidder constantly reflects upon the

In the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, the author writes about the struggles of dealing with disease in 1990's Haiti. The author, Tracy Kidder, brings the audience along a journey across vast mountains and into impoverished towns where character Dr. Farmer teaches the reader about the burden of disease on an already economically strained government. Kidder writes the book to tell the story of Dr. Paul Farmer and the many challenges he must face to provide a steady form of affordable healthcare to the indigenous people. The author wishes to make the reader understand what is needed to impact a people positively. In one case, Farmer explains the Haitian religion and voodoo's beliefs on disease. The Haitian people believe that diseases, such

This paper discusses the ideas presented by Richard Wilkinson, in the video How economic inequality harms societies (2011). Three compelling concepts arise from the video which are that there was no longer a correlation between gross national income and health and social problems; it is also possible to attain greater equality as evidenced by what some countries are doing to reduce the income gap; and inequalities vary based on their health impact across the social gradient but nonetheless is present from top to bottom. In order to tackle the health problems and improve the health of individuals within societies, social justice actions geared at the inequalities seen in the healthcare system and other institutions are crucial. This paper also

In “Thinking Like A Mountain,” Aldo Leopold addresses the importance of preserving everything in nature. Leopold believes an ecological balance must exist, as certain populations depend on each other. Balance can be interrupted by the sudden death of one species. The phrase thinking like a mountain means things exist in relation to all living things; it’s nature web! Question#2: Leopold’s “thinking like a mountain” perspective can be directly applied to my invasive species project.