Synopses & Reviews
"Whoever Saves a Life, It Is Considered as If He Saved an Entire World"
Dr. Rick Hodes arrived in Africa more than two decades ago to help the victims of a famine, but he never expected to call this extremely poor continent his home. Twenty-eight years later, he is still there.
This Is a Soul tells the remarkable story of Rick Hodes's journey from suburban America to Mother Teresa's clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As a boy, Rick was devoted to helping those in need, and eventually he determined that becoming a doctor would allow him to do the most good. When he heard about famine in Africa, that's where he went, and when genocide convulsed Rwanda, he went into the refugee camps to minister to the victims. When he was told that Ethiopia was allowing its Jews to emigrate to Israel, he went to help. While there, he was drawn to Mother Teresa's mission in Addis Ababa. It was there that Rick found his calling when he began caring for the sickest children in one of the world's poorest countries. But he did more than that—he began taking them into his home and officially adopted five of them.
This Is a Soul is also a book filled with great joy and triumph. When Rick's kids return from surgery or life-saving treatments, he is exultant. "Seeing these people after surgery is like going to heaven," he says.
Marilyn Berger went to Africa to write about Dr. Hodes, but while there, she became involved with the story. When she came upon a small, deformed, and malnourished boy begging on the street, she recognized immediately that he had the exact disease Rick could cure. She took him to Rick, who eventually arranged for the boy to have a complicated and risky surgery, which turned out to be incredibly successful. The boy's story—intertwined with Rick's, and Marilyn's as well—is unforgettable in its pathos and subtle humor.
This Is a Soul is not just a story of the savior and the saved, it is a celebration of love and wisdom, and an exploration of how charity and devotion can actually change lives in an overcrowded, unjust, and often harsh world.
Synopsis
Dr. Rick Hodes is no ordinary doctor. An American, Dr. Hodes has spent most of his life treating serious spinal diseases in Ethiopia, a country with fewer than three physicians for every 45,000 inhabitants. Dr. Hodes says of his insistence on sending pictures of his subjects to the labs, "Doctors always ask why I send photos, why I don't just send the x-rays and blood studies . . . I want them to know this is a human being. . . . This isn't just a back. This is a soul." This titular quote exemplifies the deeply humanistic attitude Dr. Hodes takes towards healthcare. Acclaimed journalist Marilyn Berger brings Dr. Hodes's work to life in This Is a Soul, a book with the power to inspire students to think outside the normal application of their skills and education.
"There isn't a living physician whose life and quiet heroism I have admired more than the subject of this extraordinary book. Rick Hodes cares little if the world knows of his work, and yet he has much to teach the world about an empathic civilization, and how boundaries and nationhood are meaningless in the face of suffering. . . . This Is a Soul is a powerful, important book for our age."--Abraham Verghese, author My Own Country: A Doctor's Story
Thematic Focus: Science, Medicine, Ethics, Public Policy, Global Health, Humanitarianism
Synopsis
In the tradition of "Mountains Beyond Mountains" and "Three Cups of Tea" comes the poignant, uplifting story of an American doctor who has spent his life caring for the sickest and poorest in Africa.
Synopsis
“A powerful, important book for our age.”
—Abraham Verghese, author
Cutting For StonePassionately written by journalist Marilyn Berger, This is a Soul is the moving and inspiring story of Dr. Rick Hodes, an American doctor living in Ethiopia, who has devoted his life to caring for the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor. Dr. Hodess life and work makes for fascinating reading, especially for those who have been profoundly touched by Tracy Kidders Mountains Beyond Mountains.
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About the Author
Marilyn Berger is a contributing writer to the New York Times. She was previously a diplomatic correspondent for Newsday and the Washington Post, and was the United Nations correspondent for ABC News and the White House correspondent for NBC News. She was the moderator on the public affairs program The Advocates and anchored WNET's City Edition. She was the director of programs and public affairs for the Council on Foreign Relations. Her articles have been published in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and New York magazine.