A compelling case for an unorthodox solution to a widespread health care problem.
Fry-Revere (The Accountability of Bioethics Committees and Consultants, 1993), the founder of a nonprofit bioethics think tank, goes to Iran to study the effects of legalizing compensation for organ donors.
Many Westerners may be shocked to learn that, as untold thousands of Americans die while waiting to receive donated organs, Iran has so many people who want to sell their kidneys that they must get on a waiting list. Fry-Revere, the founder of the U.S.-based Center for Ethical Solutions, writes that “the United States is struggling with a problem Iran seems to have solved.” Her book aims to provide readers with “insights into the ethical complexities of living organ donation.” The book is partly a scholarly study of organ donation, partly a humorous personal history, and partly a poignant, in-depth look at Iran, following the author as she recounts her trip there and the emotional transformation she underwent. The author has impressive academic credentials, including teaching bioethics and law at the University of Virginia and George Mason University, but she’s also passionately connected to this book’s issue, which has affected her personally; her son lost a kidney to cancer at a young age. Her narration proves more than capable, as her intelligence and intriguing ethical sense bring her sentences to life. She also adds personal touches; in one paragraph, she describes U.S. State Department travel warnings regarding Iran, and in the next, she relates a nightmare she had, caused by these warnings. Throughout the book, however, kidney donation remains the central focus. She interviews Iranians who sold their kidneys so they could help their families while saving a life at the same time. The issue of economic injustice soon comes into play; Fry-Revere says that some people balk at the idea of selling human organs, believing that “the United States and other countries took a stand against exploiting the poor.” Her subject matter may be somewhat controversial, but her analysis is undeniably worth reading.
A compelling case for an unorthodox solution to a widespread health care problem.Pub Date: March 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61163-512-6
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Carolina Academic Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Invaluable insights–this compelling text leaves no stone unturned.
Career ecologist Wittbecker’s (REviewing, REthinking, REturning, 2005, etc.) ninth book condenses a trove of knowledge and observations into an abridged course of action for global sustainability.
There’s presently much at stake in our fight to reverse damage to the environment, contends Wittbecker, and considerably more that must be done to correct the consumer-driven phenomena of global warming, animal extinction, deforestation, carbon emissions and population growth. But the author has no illusions, stating very clearly that it could be too late–that we may have already reached the turning point on the slippery slope of complete ecological destruction. Yet with no empirical way to gauge this impasse, Wittbecker asserts that we have a responsibility to take action in slowing and/or amending the detrimental effects of human events (termed “catastrophes”) now creating major imbalances on a global scale. Unlike other environmentally focused authors, rather than take a defensive stance to prove or disprove theory with reams of footnotes, the co-founder of the G.P. Marsh Institute for Research in Ecology simply states the obvious and backs it up with deft analysis. With four decades of scholarship in ecological research, writing and lecturing, Wittbecker wears the hat of Confucian adviser quite comfortably, offering hundreds of definitive solutions on individual, community and government levels. From proposing taxes based on destruction of resources and pollution emissions, to suggesting that governments destroy nuclear arsenals, the volume is essentially Earth’s bill of rights with policy directives for human responsibility. Comparing capitalism to an aberrant cancer, Wittbecker describes wanton consumerism as a means to fill the bottomless void of “placelessness.” Expanding on his long advocacy of creating “eutopias” (good places), Wittbecker argues that our policies and attitudes must be geared toward longevity and species equality, as well as humans’ harmonious interaction with their ecosystems. This common goal is the only answer for sustainability–cultural, physical, social or otherwise. Some of Wittbecker’s proposals may seem sensationalist and unattainable, but they’re never reactionary. The hook–the earth’s well-being–is delivered with upbeat neutrality and confidence.
Invaluable insights–this compelling text leaves no stone unturned.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-911385-32-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An assessment of the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency with no major scoops but with long-term insight into Clinton's style and character. Brummett, a veteran Arkansas journalist and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, here competes not so much with fellow Arkansas reporter Meredith Oakley (On the Make, p. 614), who exhaustively portrays Clinton's gubernatorial reign, but with ur- investigator Bob Woodward (The Agenda, not reviewed). Though he can't claim Woodward's access or propound verbatim conversations, Brummett did move to Washington and spoke to Clinton, former chief of staff Mack McLarty, and other White House officials. ``Bill Clinton is a man of awesome talent and troubling personal weaknesses,'' Brummett declares at the outset, and his account of Clinton's major efforts and crises bears that out. He grounds Clinton's cautious liberalism and winning personal style in home- state politics and shows how Clinton thrives extemporaneously and dies by TelePrompTer. America needed either ``a great moral leader or a clever policy synthesizer,'' the author argues, and Clinton is the latter, as shown in his budget plan. Brummett's treatments of missteps like the Waco disaster and the White House travel-office scandal add little new. He finds himself sympathetic to Clinton— ``a victim of his own optimism''—regarding his withdrawal of the Lani Guinier nomination. Brummett is more pointed on the suicide of White House chief deputy counsel Vincent Foster: He discounts talk of a scandalous cover-up but argues that any veteran of Arkansas politics should have been prepared for Washington nastiness. While his defense of Clinton's foreign policy performance is weak—he blames subordinates—Brummett notes credibly that Whitewater pales in comparison to previous executive-branch violations of the public interest like Iran-contra. Ultimately, Brummett is optimistic that Clinton will grow into the job—or, if defeated in 1996, return ``Ö la Nixon for us to kick around some more.'' Weaker on policy than politics, but with nuance and psychological truth.
Pub Date: Nov. 8, 1994
ISBN: 0-7868-6046-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
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