Dying in the City of the Blues: Sickle Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race and Health Book

Wailoo's "Dying in the City of Blues" presents an excellent overview of how sickle cell anemia emerged as a disease in need of political, social, and medical resources. The book focuses tightly on Memphis, TN as a site of medical developments (at St. Jude's Children's Hospital and the University of TN hospital) and unique social shifts in the mid-20th century. Although Wailoo values the role of patient voices in the clinical or political encounter, "Dying in the City of Blues" includes very few patient accounts. Instead, it traces the institutional development of research centers and charities.

Throughout the book, Wailoo emphasizes the "value" associated with sickle cell anemia. Value, in this account, has several meanings-- including social stigma or status, economic potential, research value. Wailoo suggests that various actors manipulated the shifting value of patients ("clinical material" in the dehumanizing language of medicine) to advance political or medical causes only tangentally related to sickle cell disease.

I recommend this book to readers interested in the development of America's medical system. Wailoo touches on HMOs, Medicare and Medicaid, research centers, and philanthropy. However, people interested in a more detailed study of race and health should look elsewhere. Wailoo's text assumes a fairly high degree of familiarity with health inequities, structural racism, and the Civil Rights Movement.