This groundbreaking book chronicles the history of sickle cell anemia in the United States; tracing its transformation from an "invisible" malady to a powerful; yet contested; cultural symbol of African American pain and suffering.Set in Memphis; home of one of the nation's first sickle cell clinics; Dying in the City of the Blues reveals how the recognition; treatment; social understanding; and symbolism of the disease evolved in the twentieth century; shaped by the politics of race; region; health care; and biomedicine. Using medical journals; patients' accounts; black newspapers; blues lyrics; and many other sources; Keith Wailoo follows the disease and its sufferers from the early days of obscurity before sickle cell's "discovery" by Western medicine; through its rise to clinical; scientific; and social prominence in the 1950s; to its politicization in the 1970s and 1980s. Looking forward; he considers the consequences of managed care on the politics of disease in the twenty-first century.A rich and multilayered narrative; Dying in the City of the Blues offers valuable new insight into the African American experience; the impact of race relations and ideologies on health care; and the politics of science; medicine; and disease.
#163492 in Books The University of North Carolina Press 1996-09-23 1996-09-23Ingredients: Example IngredientsOriginal language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.75 x 1.04 x 6.38l; 1.47 #File Name: 0807845965410 pages
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