Healing Politics: A Doctor s Journey into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic
A child of immigrants, Abdul El-Sayed grew up feeling a responsibility to help others. He threw himself into the study of medicine and excelled—winning a Rhodes Scholarship, earning two advanced degrees, and landing a tenure-track position at Columbia University. At 30, he became the youngest city health official in America, tasked with rebuilding Detroit's health department after years of austerity policies.
But El-Sayed found himself disillusioned. He could heal the sick—even build healthier and safer communities—but that wouldn’t address the social and economic conditions causing illness in the first place. So he left health for politics, running for Governor of Michigan and earning the support of progressive champions like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.
In Healing Politics, El-Sayed traces the life of a young idealist, weaving together powerful personal stories and fascinating forays into history and science. Marrying his unique perspective with the science of epidemiology, El-Sayed diagnoses an underlying epidemic afflicting our country, an epidemic of insecurity. And to heal the rifts this epidemic has created, he lays out a new direction for the progressive movement. This is a bold, personal, and compellingly original book from a prominent young leader.
Reviews (67)
A book for our times
Healing Politics was published after Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's failed bid for the Michigan Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He recounts his roots and his journey to become Michigan's governor. I thoroughly enjoyed the bibliographic part of the book. Secondly, being an epidemiologist, seeing our challenges, especially while he served as Detroit's Health Director, he connects the dots for readers; that is, the cause and effect of the inequalities in American society, Thirdly, as a politician, he deconstructs current polices and structures that are impeding progress in the education, health, economic, criminal justice (and more) space. In his last chapter, he recommends 13 policies on how we should move forward. Few know what a progressive platform looks like. Debates during the democratic nomination process is not structured to look deeply into how policies can be implemented. However, by solely reading the last chapter, regardless if you support some, none, or all of the ideas put forth, one can get clarity of what a progressive platform looks like. I started reading Healing Politics before the killing of George Floyd and during the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. When I started, and because of the disparity in health Covid-19 outcomes, I thought, "How timely." Now, with the voices on the street asking, "Do you hear us now?", I can only reiterate, "How timely!"
Ho-hum
I really wanted to like this. IO was rooting for Dr. El-Sayed for Governor of Michigan and I think he has some great ideas. However, I don't think he is much of an author. The middle third of the book, while he is discussing "America's Insecurity Epidemic" was very interesting. The preceding and following sections did not live up to expectations, however.
So far, so good!
After listening to Dr. El-Sayed for some time now, it's a pleasure to experience some of his most insightful revelations in writing. He's exceptionally well-spoken and never wastes words while, in the tradition of astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, he explains the medical ramifications of our current pandemic. He speaks from the heart and enriches our worldview in a most understandable way.
Heal insecurity with empathy
Could use more practical instruction and understanding of the book’s goal: empathy. Consider Dr Marshall Rosenberg books (died 2015) if you want to learn the difficult skills of empathy. Would love to create the society that Dr El-Sayed hopes for.
Informative and eye opening book on our current Healthcare crisis and how we can heal from it.
As someone who is running for state government, I appreciated the straightforward and easy to understand narrative by Abdul El-Sayed on his healthcare stance and field knowledge.
Excellent read
Dr. Elsayed provides a thorough assessment of the many issues that face our society and puts together a framework for how to approach solving these issues. Excellent read.
Must read
Impressive read. Shows great depth of human understanding and compassion.
Must read timely book about all that’s wrong with our healthcare system and our politics.
Dr. El-Sayed skillfully threads his unique upbringing and life experiences with solid political analysis in this deeply personal memoir come political manifesto. He offers real hope to those of us who believe in a better America, one that looks after all of its citizens regardless of race or socio-economic status. The book manages to explore everything that’s wrong with our current political trajectory and gets to the heart of the “insecurity” epidemic plaguing all aspects of our lives. We must all heed his passionate cri du coeur for an inclusive politics based on empathy and love.
Perfectly explains the progressive movement.
I went into this book thinking it was an explanation of why we need Medicare for All and left with hope of our future. Abdul explains not only the reasons for wanting his progressive ideas, but he uses his personal story to show where he is coming from. He could have easily wrote a pamphlet to explain why, instead he breaks down every issue simply and logically. In today’s political environment, it’s far too easy to get emotional, or being accused of being emotional, for explaining your beliefs. Abdul shows the human element of the policies and fact-based evidence to support it. This is a book I will cherish for time to come. I’m more excited for America’s political future now than I have ever been.
An eye opener to our social system that is failing America.
This book is truly a journey through the social thread of AMERICA. Dr. El Seyed, reveals and uncovers, so many facts of all the failings of our political , educational and health systems, and offers antidotes for a recovery that should be what America is.
Comments
Post a Comment