Minority Populations and Health: An Introduction to Health Disparities in the United States

I used this book for a race & minority health class. It is very well written and does a good job at synthesizing information about this subject. I will agree with a previous reviewer that there is plenty of theory and explanations in addition to charts and statistics. The only negative thing is that sometimes there are lots of theories to explain a phenomenon (for example, lower minority mortality rates among the elderly) with more research needing to be done to determine which explanation is correct. There was a good balance between facts and explanations, and the book was very readable and understandable. It did a great job emphasizing the changing demographics of the United States and the need to focus on the issue of minority health. I am a biomedical engineering major, so the work is not directly pertinent to my field, but I still enjoyed reading it and thinking about the ideas it contains, even a year after I finished my class.

This is the first textbook written for a very important topic, health disparities and minority health. The other books are edited with different authors of each chapter. This book was written by one author. It was written for use in classes. It outlines and describes the state of the topic, which explains the tables and charts that the "C. Bullman" review talked about. However, there is MUCH more than just charts and tables in this book. The book talks about causes of health disparities and describes all of the various theories and research. Also, it includes chapters on all minority groups, including Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, two groups that are usually left out. I agree with the book review from JAMA. I think this an excellent book for use in classes.