Haiti After the Earthquake
Release date: 2011 / 404 pages
Synopsis (from the back cover): On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake laid waste to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing hundreds of thousands of people. In this vivid narrative, Dr. Paul Farmer, who has worked in Haiti for nearly thirty years, describes the earthquake’s impact on that country, both as he and his colleagues experienced it working there as physicians in the immediate aftermath, an dover the subsequent year….
First Sentence: Haiti was founded by a righteous revolution in 1804 and became the first black republic.
Review: Anyone who has read Tracy Kidder’s Mountains beyond Mountains already knows that Paul Farmer is a rare individual who not only seems to have more hours in his day, but spends those hours focused on the betterment of others, especially the disenfranchised.
Haiti after the Earthquake is Farmer’s comprehensive study of why the 2010 earthquake was largely an “unnatural” disaster that has been uniquely challenging to overcome. Farmer asserts, “…rebuilding capacity – public or private – in Haiti requires sound analysis of what, exactly, has gone so wrong over the past four decades” (4). Farmer’s history of Haiti as the first successful slave revolt that lead to the first black republic illustrates the Haitians’ tenacity and determination. He then discusses why Haiti’s “…history of outsourcing almost every project to NGOs and contractors made trying to help the public sector like trying to transfuse whole blood through a small-gauge needle, or in popular parlance, to drink from a fire hose” has made “building Haiti back better” difficult (70).
After describing the often disheartening attempts to rebuild Haiti, Farmer suggests the successful reconstruction of post-genocide Rwanda may serve as a model for Haiti, and then examines best and worst case scenarios for Haiti, circa 2015.
Farmer states that “To help advance the process of discernment is one of the only reasons to publish a book like this one…” (219). Haiti after the Earthquake fulfills his objective, providing a complex, wholly accessible study of the factors driving Haiti’s current and future health. Now, if any of you might happen to be in Washington D.C. on September 12th, be sure to check out Paul Farmer discussing his latest work! For more information, please go to www.hooksbookevents.com. Thank you to Shelf Awareness for asking me to read and review this fascinating work!
Interested in winning a free copy? Drop me a comment below and I will choose a lucky winner by the weekend!
Our book club read the Kidder book and another about Haiti, too. We would love to win a copy of this one, too.
I read Mountains Beyond Mountains and enjoyed it. I’m anxious to read this one. Thanks for the giveaway.
This would be a fascinating read ~ thanks for the opportunity to win.
I would very much like to win this book as I recently heard about it and would love to read it. I belong to a group that discusses world politics, etc. and Haiti was discussed with little optimism for their future. I would hope Farmer’s book could provide more description of promise.
I’m setting up a program on Haiti, having a survivor come in and talk. Would love to have a giveaway book contest for patrons!
Haiti is a fascinating place, I’d love to read more about it.
I would love to read this!
We read Mountains Beyond Mountains in my library book group and was very popular. I know for sure one member of our group would be very interested in reading this!
This book sounds like a fascinating and necessary read. Please include me in the Giveaway. Thank you!
After reading M beyond M I am excited to hear about Dr. Farmer’s book. It would be great to win it and use it for my bookgroup. Thanks.
Kim D
I’d like to read that book
I would love to read this book and pass it along to my daughter. She voluntered in Jacmel, Haiti after the earthquake and it was a life changing experience for her.
This sounds likea great book! Thanks for the chance.
nancyeavis AT bellsouth DOT net
They’ve a;ready been through so much, the last thing they needed was an earthquake. Where do you even begin rebuilding from something like that?