Rage & Reconciliation: Inspiring a Health Care Revolution

Creative Nonfiction #21

by Lee Gutkind (Editor)

Book by

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Lee Gutkind has been recognized by Vanity Fair as “the godfather behind creative nonfiction.” A prolific writer, he has authored and edited over twenty-five books, and is the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction, the first and largest literary magazine to publish only narrative nonfiction. Gutkind has received grants, honors, and awards from numerous organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation. A man of many talents, Gutkind has been a motorcyclist, medical insider, sports expert, sailor, and college professor. He is currently distinguished writer in residence in the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University and a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication.

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holy god, a lot of these are absolutely hideous and written by completely ridiculous assholes. A doctor raising an eyebrow at your own diagnosis that's based entirely off of a website you read 2 days ago? What a prick! Four doctors that give you the same opinion on surgery? Mass conspiracy to just cut you up and ignore your feelings. There's a couple bits of justified criticism about insurance companies and HMOs, but not nearly enough considering the amount of bitching that goes on here.

Thankfully, there is a great essay on postpartum depression. The author draws a fairly convincing parallel between herself and Andrea Yates (woman who drowned five of her children) that she later uses to explore the problems that come with our cultural conception of motherhood (how mothers should act, how they should deal with their mental health, etc.) Very rarely is mental illness written with such frankness and lucidity from the people who suffer from it (especially on the parts talking about infanticide). Definitely increased my limited understanding of maternity.

There's also one essay about the role of the disabled in society (in this case, people with Down syndrome) that is interesting for the number of ethical questions it poses.