Public Health Books, Movies, and Podcasts

In honor of National Public Health Week, the North Shore Public Health Collaborative staff put together a list of our favorite public health books, movies, and podcasts!

Click image to enlarge.

The descriptions below are from the North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE) Catalog, unless otherwise indicated.

Books

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot [NONFICTION]

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Superman's Not Coming by Erin Brockovich [NONFICTION]

Water. The single most necessary element to sustain life. Brockovich warns that America's water crisis isn't looming on the horizon--it's already here. Superman Isn't Coming makes clear that the most precious resource on planet Earth is alarmingly polluted by toxins, hazardous waste, lead, fracking chemicals, and more. In the 20 years since her eponymous film, Brockovich has kept up the fight for clean water one town at a time. She receives thousands of letters each month from people across the country writing to her with water concerns regarding chemicals, who don't know who else to turn to. Brockovich has become a modern-day superhero responding to pleas for help throughout our country, from citizens whose letters and pleas have been ignored by their local representatives, the EPA, the Department of Natural Resources, the CDC, their local water authority with troubling situations that go unheeded and conditions not magically righting themselves. Brockovich can't fight all the fights and save our water on her own. The simple truth is that Superman isn't coming to save us. Her book is an urgent call for all of us. And in it, Brockovich makes clear why we are in the trouble we're in, and how we each can take small and large actions and change troubling conditions. She writes about the effects of climate change that have caused droughts in some areas and flooding in others, and shows how this is affecting us economically as well as destroying lives and property. She lays out the facts, and gives us the tools to take steps--large and small--to make changes in our own counties, cities and towns, and help to preserve our selves, our water, our planet.

Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World by Elinor Cleghorn [NONFICTION]

A trailblazing conversation-starting history of women's health-from Ancient Greece to hormones and autoimmune diseases-brought together in a fascinating sweeping narrative

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen [NONFICTION]

This work examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called "spillover" where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic. The emergence of strange new diseases is a frightening problem that seems to be getting worse. In this age of speedy travel, it threatens a worldwide pandemic. We hear news reports of Ebola, SARS, AIDS, and something called Hendra killing horses and people in Australia; but those reports miss the big truth that such phenomena are part of a single pattern. The bugs that transmit these diseases share one thing: they originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. As globalization spreads and as we destroy the ancient ecosystems, penetrating ever deeper into the furthest reaches of the planet, we encounter strange and dangerous infections that originate in animals but can be transmitted to humans. It is reckoned that at least 60% of our infections diseases derive from animals. Diseases that were contained are being set free and the results are potentially catastrophic. The author tracks this subject around the world. He recounts adventures in the field, netting bats in China, trapping monkeys in Bangladesh, stalking gorillas in the Congo, with the world's leading disease scientists. He takes the reader along on this quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge, and he asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be?

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracey Kidder [NONFICTION]

This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it. At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer--brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti--blasts through convention to get results. Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity" - a philosophy that is embodied in the small public charity he founded, Partners In Health. He enlists the help of the Gates Foundation, George Soros, the U.N.'s World Health Organization, and others in his quest to cure the world. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder [NONFICTION]

When he graduated from Harvard Medical School, Jim O'Connell was asked by the medical school Dean to spend one year setting up a program to care for the homeless population in Boston. It became Jim O'Connell's life calling, to help people known as "rough sleepers." For the past three decades, Dr. O'Connell has run the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, which he helped to create. Affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital, the program includes clinics and a van on which Dr O'Connell and his staff ride through the Boston streets at night, offering outreach of medical care, socks, soup, and friendship to a marginalized community.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood [FICTION]

This look at the near future presents the story of Offred, a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, once the United States, an oppressive world where women are no longer allowed to read and are valued only as long as they are viable for reproduction.

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton [FICTION]

A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation's most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory located five stories beneath the desert and fitted with an automated atomic self-destruction mechanism for cases of irremediable contamination. Under conditions of total news blackout and the utmost urgency, the scientists race to understand and contain the crisis.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel [FICTION]

An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, this novel tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

Movies

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - directed by George C. Wolfe [BASED ON A TRUE STORY]

Based on the nonfiction book by Rebecca Skloot, this film tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line.

Erin Brockovich - directed by Steven Soderberg [BASED ON A TRUE STORY]

Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a monumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin's determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

Dark Waters - directed by Todd Haynes [BASED ON A TRUE STORY]

A corporate defense attorney decides to take on a lawsuit against a chemical company accused of a history of pollution

Deepwater Horizon - directed by Peter Berg [BASED ON A TRUE STORY]

For the one hundred and twenty-six people aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, April 20, 2010, began like any normal day. Before day's end, the world would bear witness to one of the greatest man-made disasters in U.S. history. It reveals the brave acts of the men and women who rose to the challenge and risked everything to lead others to safety.

Dallas Buyers Club - directed by Jean-Marc Vallee [BASED ON A TRUE STORY]

Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof's free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Shunned and ostracized by many old friends and bereft of government-approved medicines, he decided to take matters in his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal. Bypassing the establishment, he joined forces with an unlikely band of renegades and outcasts and established a hugely successful "buyers' club."

Philadelphia - directed by Jonathan Demme [INSPIRED BY REAL EVENTS]

Story of two competing lawyers who join together to sue a prestigious Philadelphia law firm when the firm fires one of them because he has AIDS.

Contagion - directed by Steven Soderbergh [FICTION]

A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.

Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak [DOCUMENTARY SERIES]

In this docuseries, meet the heroes on the front lines of the battle against influenza and learn about their efforts to stop the next global outbreak. (This description is from Netflix.)

The Invisible Shield [DOCUMENTARY SERIES]

The Invisible Shield, a four-part documentary series, reveals a little-known truth: that public health saved your life today and you probably don’t even know it. But while public health makes modern life possible, the work itself is often underfunded, undervalued, and misunderstood. (This description is from PBS.)

Podcasts

This Podcast Will Kill You - hosted by Erin Welsh, PhD & Erin Allman-Updyke, MD, PhD

This podcast might not actually kill you, but it covers so many things that can. Each episode tackles a different disease, from its history, to its biology, and finally, how scared you need to be. Ecologists and epidemiologists Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke make infectious diseases acceptable fodder for dinner party conversation and provide the perfect cocktail recipe to match. (This description is from Exactly Right Media.)

(Local) public health: Conversations exploring public health on the North Shore in Massachusetts and beyond!© - hosted by the Swampscott Health Department

Everyone wants the people they are close with to be safe and healthy. The Swampscott Health Department’s podcast, (Local) public health: Conversations exploring public health on the North Shore in Massachusetts and beyond!©, consists of short and simple episodes aimed at helping you learn more about public health and its impacts on a local, state, national, and even global level. Join us as we explore a variety of public health topics and learn how public health is vital for not only our health and wellbeing, but also for our families, our friends, and our community. Hear from the Swampscott Health Department, other Public Health Departments, public health professionals, health care providers, and community members about how public health impacts us all here on the North Shore and beyond. We hope that this podcast will be a valuable resource for our residents, community, and region! (This description is from the Swampscott Health Department.)

Public Health On Call - hosted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Public Health On Call podcast makes important public health topics accessible to all through quick, informative conversations. Hosts tackle complex topics through engaging interviews and real-world perspectives. Our ever-growing list of guests have included researchers, public health commissioners, elected leaders, patients, clergy, ethicists, front line clinicians, and even former health officials who were fired for doing their jobs. Since launching in March 2020 with the purpose of sharing credible expertise and debunking misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, Public Health On Call has covered a range of topics, including other viral outbreaks, reproductive health, gun violence prevention, international humanitarian crises, antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, health equity, racial and environmental justice, the opioid crisis, and so much more. (This description is from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.)

Health In All Matters - hosted by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Health In All Matters podcast is produced by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health to bring more understanding of public health challenges across the globe and close to home. We include expert voices from our faculty and their colleagues around the world. (This description is from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.)

Public Health Review - hosted by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)

Public Health Review is our podcast that features public health and thought leaders who tackle everyday issues impacting the communities they serve. The series capitalizes on current public health trends and provides listeners with valuable information. Every month we explore innovative topics ranging from time-sensitive updates on COVID-19 related concerns to social and behavioral health, emergency preparedness, infectious disease, environmental impacts, and health disparities. We also help listeners stay informed by answering driving questions like the future of health care and the public health workforce, how COVID-19 has affected the mental wellbeing of the population, and what roles governments should play in ensuring public health safety. Our guests include state and territorial health leaders, health agency staff, federal government officials, and ASTHO leadership. (This description is from ASTHO.)