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Old June 20th, 1997, 21:00
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1997.06.21 Reclaiming Our Health

Reclaiming Our Health
Author: John Robbins.
Pp. 416. H J Kramer, Tiburon, California, 1996.

Rating: C-

As a fan of John Robbins, I was very interested in reading this book. I found his previous book, Diet for a New America a provoking and well reasoned argument for changing the American Diet. However, I was disappointed in this current book of his.

The initial section of the book is devoted to women's health. He discusses the benefits of natural childbirth, midwifry, and home births. However, thoroughly bashing the medical profession seems to be the major point of this section. While he does make some excellent points, I thought he foresake his objectivity. For example, if the care of women during pregnancy is so horrible, the how come 100 years ago the number one cause of death among women was childbirth? A hundred years ago, virtually all women engaged in "natural" childbirth. With the advancement of medical science, currently the leading causes of death among women are the diseases of (primarily) old age. Something must be good about the medical advances in women's health in order to make such a huge turnaround in mortality statistics. Like his previous book, I did find John Robbins to be thought provoking. However, since his objectivity seemed compromised, I am unwilling to put much credence upon what he did say in the book.

Addressing ways to improve medical care in America is a natural direction for John Robbins to turn his efforts. I am looking forward to reading his next book. However, I cannot recommend his current effort. Perhaps if Mr. Robbins engages in collaboration, his next book will be more objective and embraced by mainstream medicine. Then, his goal of influencing the direction of healthcare in America will be achieved.

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Other books by John Robbins:

Diet for a New America
May All Be Fed : A Diet for a New World
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