Review by Booklist Review
Does stress kill? Can it trigger the development of serious illnesses? Public health research professor Geronimus theorizes that prolonged stress damages the body's metabolic, immune, and cardiovascular systems, resulting in greater vulnerability to chronic diseases (particularly cancer and heart problems), disability, premature aging, and elevated risks to maternal health. She calls this sustained, stress-related physiological process "weathering," and it occurs much more frequently in members of minorities and those who live in marginalized communities. Chronic physical, environmental, and psychological stress activate harmful biological responses such as persistent elevation of cortisol levels, insulin resistance, and perhaps the shortening of DNA's telomeres. Even personal and financial accomplishments do not necessarily halt the process of weathering. The need for constant resilience exacts a toll. Geronimus notes that "success comes at a spectacularly high health cost for those who have to fight the hardest to achieve it in the context of a society that doesn't value them." A persuasive hypothesis, an enlightening biopsychosocial study of health inequities fostered by racism and classism in America, and an urgent call for compassion and social justice.
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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Neither genetic differences nor unhealthy lifestyles are at the root of racial health disparities in the U.S., according to this powerhouse study. Geronimus, a professor of public health at the University of Michigan, instead places the blame on "the physiological effects of living in marginalized communities that bear the brunt of racial, ethnic, religious, and class discrimination." Labeling these effects as "weathering," Geronimus documents how the struggles to earn a living wage, to find affordable and safe housing, and to access decent healthcare weaken the immune systems of poor and marginalized people and cascade into early-onset chronic diseases and shortened life expectancies. For people of color, professional success is no refuge, as the effort required to be upwardly mobile and vigilant in the face of systemic discrimination has long-term negative health consequences. Throughout, Geronimus uncovers and forcefully critiques harmful narratives in healthcare and social policy, including an "exaggerated" emphasis on the benefits of postponing childbearing (which puts Black mothers, in particular, at greater risk for "poor birth outcomes") and "age-washing" (which presupposes that there is "a universally uniform growth and aging process" and discounts the effects of racism and classism). Impassioned and persuasive, this is an essential call for change. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
As the data show, social injustice inflicts physical harm, with the marginalized in U.S. society more likely to face chronic disease, death in childbirth, and abbreviated life spans than their middle- and upper-class white counterparts. Veteran public health researcher Geronimus (Univ. of Michigan) examines weathering, a term she coined to describe the health consequences of systemic oppression, while offering solutions.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
How systemic oppression erodes the health of members of marginalized communities. Geronimus, a professor of public health, coined the term weathering to describe the decline in health and life expectancy that results from repeated or sustained activation of physiological stress responses. In this insightful and well-argued book, the author contends that the physiological effects of living in marginalized communities, often caused by racial, ethnic, religious, and class discrimination, play a more significant role in the health of its members than genetics or lifestyle choices. Geronimus also looks at the concept of "age-washing," which describes a way of thinking that ignores the effects of systemic problems on the health of marginalized individuals and attempts to place the cause elsewhere, leading to the proliferation of the "blame narrative." The author bases her findings on three decades of research, including her own, some of which has contradicted conventional thinking. Though she considered writing a book about weathering for nearly her entire career, she was "stopped cold" and called to action when she learned about shocking increases in mortality rates, "in particular preventable deaths of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and rural white mothers," over the same time period. With health inequalities not only remaining entrenched, but continuing to rise in the past 30 years, the author seeks to "spark new narratives and new understandings that will pave the way to new paths toward achieving health equity." In that, she succeeds, and the text benefits from the author's inclusion of stories of individuals who have experienced firsthand the effects of weathering, including those of her own family as descendants of Eastern European Jewish immigrants. In the hard-driving second part of the book, Geronimus provides suggestions to create a new path forward, creating action items for readers truly interested in doing something about "racialized injustice and the weathering it causes." A compelling contribution to the literature on the important issue of health care inequity. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
