Mountains Beyond Mountains:
The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
By Tracy Kidder
Materials are organized in the following categories:
(click on categories to jump to materials)
- Publisher's Website -
- Engaging Difficult Dialogues -
- Radio Features and Interviews -
- Video -
- Photography -
- Articles and Books -
- Relevant Websites -
- Haiti -
Publisher's Website
Click here to visit the Random House website. Resources include an excerpt from the book, an interview with author Tracy Kidder, discussion questions, and a teacher's guide.
Engaging Difficult Dialogues
Study Notes
Click here for a series of study notes for Mountains Beyond Mountains prepared by faculty at the University of Washington.
The notes cover several topics, as well as a glossary of terms:
- Identity
- Culture
- Citizenship
- Medical ethics
- Globalization
- Politics
- Economics
- HIV issues
- Service/activism
Additional Discussion Questions
Click here for discussion questions from Loyola University Chicago.
Questions are arranged thematically:
- The Land and Its People
- The Author and His Subject
- What Shaped Famer's Values and Worldview?
- Those Who Support Farmer
- The Struggle for Rich and Poor, Good and Evil
Radio Features and Interviews
National Public Radio / This I Believe
Click here to hear Dr. Paul Farmer's belief that that Health is a Human Right.
Chicago Public Radio-PRI / This American Life
Click here to listen to a This American Life episode titled "Island Time." Four stories are dedicated to understanding what is happening in Haiti: why aid money seems frozen and what is needed to make sure that once released, every Haitian, rich, poor, urban, or rural, will benefit.
National Public Radio / All Things Considered
Click here to listen to an NPR transcript of an interview with Tracy Kidder broadcast on All Things Considered, October 20, 2003. You can also listen to the interview online or listen to Tracy Kidder read an excerpt from the book.
National Public Radio / Fresh Air
Click here to listen to Terry Gross interviewing Dr. Paul Farmer on September 25, 2003.
Social Innovation Conversations
Click here for interview: "Host Tim Zak talks to Farmer about the challenges and rewards of providing healthcare to the poorest of the poor, and the evolving, innovative models for getting drugs to those who need them most." Interviewed April 21, 2006.
Half-hour program can be played from site or downloaded as an MP3.
Video
Tracy Kidder and Dr. Paul Farmer
Click here to view the Cambridge Reads presentation of an event with Tracy Kidder and Dr. Paul Farmer. This full length program was recorded on October 20, 2006, at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, MA. It was was produced by Cambridge Community Television with volunteers Matt Mitchell and Courtney Eltinge. Running time 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Dr. Paul Farmer and Dr. Jonathan Moreno
Click here to view an online video of Dr. Paul Farmer and Dr. Jonathan Moreno talking about "the ethics of access to care and protection from secret experiments" at a University of Washington symposium on December 9, 2003.
Video runtime is 1 hour 28 minutes. Dr. Farmer's talk starts about 38 minutes into the symposium.
Dr. Jim Yong Kim
Click here to view Dr. Jim Yong Kim's lecture on "The Future of Global Health" at Boston University in December 2007.
The Age of Aids: Frontline
Click here to learn about this two part PBS series looking at the medical & political history of AIDS and examining current global AIDS challenges. You can watch the entire series on the site. Additional resources include articles, links, maps, a timeline, stories of people with AIDS, and interviews with activists, policymakers, public health officials, and researchers.
CBS 60 Minutes
Click here to view "Dr. Famer's Remedy for World Health: Bryon Pitts Meets the Man who Dedicates His Life to Bringing Healthcare to the Poor." A transcript of the segment is also included.
Photography
- Click here to view Picassa Web Albums from Friends for Health in Haiti.
- Click here to view a New York Times photo gallery of the earthquake, as well as many supporting articles.
- Click here to view a collection of photos of Farmer and his clinic from the St. Petersburg Times.
- Click here to view a collection of photos from health projects in Boston, Haiti, Peru, Russia, and Rwanda.
- Click here to view a photoblog that includes photographs of the Peligre Dam (Centre II collection).
- Click here to view a small collection of photos including the clinic building, women waiting for treatment, clinic workers, and children.
Articles and Books
click on the titles to read more
Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer, M.D.
At the University of California Press site for Farmer's public anthropology book, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor, you can read the first chapter: "On Suffering and Structural Violence" or read an interview with Paul Farmer
Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine by Paul Farmer, Bruce Nizeye, Sara Stulac, and Salmaan Keshavjee
An October 2006 article published in the Public Library of Science: Medicine.
Wiping Out Tb and Aids by Michael Satchell
This article in the 10/31/05 issue of U.S. News and World Report offers an update on PIH's work in Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, and elsewhere.
If We Fail to Act by Paul Famer, M.D
2006 Article in Notre Dame Magazine.
Relevant Websites
click on the headings to visit the sites
Partners in Health
"Partners In Health (PIH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with a presence in Latin America, the Caribbean, Russia, and the United States. We coordinate innovative programs to combat AIDS and women's health problems in rural Haiti and urban Massachusetts, groundbreaking tuberculosis treatment projects in the prisons of Siberia and the shantytowns of Lima, and health policy initiatives on a global scale." In addition to information on PIH efforts, the site offers essays on public health, human rights, Haitian, and Latin American issues.
RX for Survival: A Global Health Challenge
This global health media education project includes a PBS television series, an interactive global health atlas, information on diseases, profiles of global health champions (Farmer and others), first person accounts of health care workers around the globe, teacher's guides, etc. Some short video clips available from the site.
Haiti
History
Click on each topic to learn more
The Haitian Revolution of 1791-1803
World History Archives—History of Haiti
Map of Triangular Trade Routes
Impact of Haitian Revolution on Forging America
Country Profile
Click here to view a 23 page PDF Document profiling Haiti. Prepared by researchers at the Library of Congress (May 2006).
Country Study
Click here to view a site offering full text chapters from a 1989 book by the U.S. government which is an "attempt to treat in a compact and objective manner the dominant contemporary social, political, economic, and military aspects of ... Haiti." Includes chapters on the social structure, health, history, and economy.
Infectious Diseases in Haiti
Click here to visit the USAID site that provides an overview of infectious diseases in Haiti. Updated June 2009.
Provide Website Feedback
