The Mind is Not the Heart: Recollections of a Woman Physician

Product Description Available for the first time in paperback, Eva Salber's The Mind Is Not the Heart (originally published in 1989), is the personal and political story of a white, Jewish, South African woman who practiced medicine for over fifty years among the impoverished—both rural and urban, black and white, in South Africa and later in the United States. Her lifelong dedication to providing health care to poor people was informed by a passionate vision of the link between social problems and medicine, accompanied by an embracing involvement with the communities in which she served. In this warm clear-eyed account, Dr. Salber presents not only her own personal journey, that of a professional woman, teacher, wife, and mother, but also the story of the people on the margins of society among whom she worked. From Library Journal Salber, an early proponent of the health facilitator role in community medicine, has written a collection of intelligent and insightful personal essays about the relationships between a doctor, patients, and the community served. Salber--physician, woman, mother, wife, researcher, and Jew--recounts her experiences training to be a doctor in her birthplace, apartheid-torn South Africa, as well as her subsequent work with the poor and underprivileged in Boston and rural North Carolina. This is the portrait of an extraordinary humanist who delights in caring for and curing ordinary people. A recommended purchase for academic libraries, particularly those with women's studies programs. Medical and public libraries will also find this a good choice.- Erna Chamberlin, SUNY at Binghamton Libs.Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review "The tone of these memoirs is one of calm and intelligent optimism. From her experience has come an engrossing book, an honest voice." --Laura C. Hanson, "New England Journal of Medicine""The story of a woman whose intelligence is mediated by human compassion and great courage, and the story of a physician, persuaded of the need for a broad interpretation of the social meaning of medicine. Her account is deeply compassionate, moving, and inspiring." --Elizabeth Fee, "Journal of Public Health Policy""Salber writes with a fresh, graceful, and direct voice that is often witty and always without pretense. As a writer, Salber's power derives. . . from her candor, her vision of social medicine, her incredible perseverance, and her willingness to share some of her inner life with the reader." --Thomas R. Cole, "Medical Humanities Review" About the Author Eva J. Salber is the author of Don't Send Me Flowers When I'm Dead, also published by Duke University Press. She received her M.D. in 1955 at the University of Cape Town, and practiced medicine in Port Elizabeth, Umtata, Cape Town, and Durban, South Africa, London, Boston, and Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. She died in 1990 at her home in Chapel Hill at the age of 74.