My Own Country: A Doctor's Story

From the author of The Covenant of Water and New York Times bestseller Cutting for Stone: a story of medicine in the American heartland, and confronting one's deepest prejudices and fears.

"Remarkable.... An account of the [AIDS] plague years in America. Beautifully written...by a doctor who was changed and shaped by his patients." --The New York Times Book Review

Nestled in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, the town of Johnson City had always seemed exempt from the anxieties of modern American life. But when the local hospital treated its first AIDS patient, a crisis that had once seemed an "urban problem" had arrived in the town to stay.

Working in Johnson City was Abraham Verghese, a young Indian doctor specializing in infectious diseases. Dr. Verghese became by necessity the local AIDS expert, soon besieged by a shocking number of male and female patients whose stories came to occupy his mind, and even take over his life. Verghese brought a singular perspective to Johnson City: as a doctor unique in his abilities; as an outsider who could talk to people suspicious of local practitioners; above all, as a writer of grace and compassion who saw that what was happening in this conservative community was both a medical and a spiritual emergency.

Author: Abraham Verghese
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 04/25/1995
Pages: 448
Weight: 0.7lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780679752929


Award: Lambda Literary Awards - Winner