May 26, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com

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Best Books About Health

Sort books by: Author | Title | Publisher | Year

A Plague on Your Houses: How New York Was Burned Down and National Public Health Crumbled
by Deborah and Rodrick Wallace (Verso, 1998. 221 pp.)

Tells how shutting down firehouses in poor communities in the 1970’s lead to an epidemic of arson, which then produced massive health, drug and mental health problems throughout the city and beyond. Stretches its points a bit, but interesting. more info...

And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic
by Randy Shilts (St. Martin’s Press, 2000.)

The definitive (and wonderfully readable) history of the AIDS epidemic in America. A bit West Coast-centric, but still important for New Yorkers interested in health. more info...

Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health
by Laurie Garrett (Hyperion, 2000.)

Everything you wanted to know about public health -- from epidemics and their control to bioterror -- and why we should be very afraid if we don’t cut inequities and improve public health systems. Brilliantly informative and scary! Garrett’s The Coming Plague is also important reading for anyone interested in public health, NY (roughly 100 pages about New York City itself) and beyond. more info...

Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems
by Joseph Volpicelli and Maia Szalavitz (Wiley, 2000.)

Shameless self promotion, absolute bias! (ed. Maia is the Health Topic Page contributor). But still the only book that lays out all the treatment options for alcohol and other drug problems, the research on them and which includes both positive and negative patient experiences to help people make informed choices. more info...

The Death Of Innocents: A True Story of Murder, Medicine and High Stakes Science
by Richard Firstman and Jaime Talan (Bantam Books, 1998.)

A gripping story of how cases where mothers who murdered their children (particularly one gruesome case from upstate NY) were mistaken for and then distorted the research on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). This lead scientists to believe that there was a strong genetic predisposition for families to have more than one baby die in infancy; it also allowed the murderous mothers to continue killing. A great scientific detective story, which also shows why health statistics must be interpreted with caution and debunks a number of myths about SIDS. more info...

The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s: Portrait of an Epidemic
by David Schenk (Doubleday, 2001. 292 pp.)

Reads beautifully despite difficult material—and since Alzheimer’s is a growing problem for New Yorkers and the nation as the aging population increases, a must read. more info...

Therapy's Delusions: The Myth of the Unconscious and the Exploitation of Today’s Walking Worried
by Ethan Watters and Richard Ofshe (Scribner, 1999. 287 pp.)

Many New Yorkers are hooked on useless therapies—here’s why they should reconsider. more info...

Top Doctors: New York Metro Area (Top Doctors: New York Metro Area, 6th Ed).
by (Castle Connolly Publishers, 2002. 1350 pp.)

Guide to the area’s best doctors, based on surveys of doctors themselves. more info...

Reader Submissions / Others.

• Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Attack by Juan Gonzalez. Among the consequences of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11 was the release of high levels of toxic substances into the air, the street, and scores of buildings. Gonzalez, a prize-winning New York Daily News journalist, alleges that Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, OSHA inspectors, the New York City Health Department, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and New York newspapers lied to the public by intentionally downplaying the risks of exposure and the anticipated dangers.

Interested in other books about NYC? Visit our NYC Books section.

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