Mountains beyond Mountains / Tracy Kidder 317 p.

The true story of Dr. Paul Farmer, MD/PhD/MacArthur Genius and founder of Partners in Health, whose mission statement reads, in part: "When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well." In spite of the weighty subject matter, Mountains is a fast, engaging read, focusing on Farmer's experiences delivering medical care in rural Haiti. Environmental issues are no small player in the larger story, as the extreme poverty of the central region can be largely attributed to deforestation and other disastrous land management practices.