Mountains Beyond Mountains
Tracy Kidder · 2003
Kidder's portrait of physician Paul Farmer, who devoted his life to bringing medical care to Haiti's poor, is a study in radical moral seriousness. The book asks hard questions about whether one person's heroism can change a broken system. The answer is more complicated than inspiring.
The case against
Kidder fell for his subject, and it shows. Farmer's harshness toward colleagues, the family he rarely sees, the question of whether a movement built on one unsleeping saint can survive him: all raised, none pressed. What remains is hagiography with excellent reporting attached, and a theory of change the book never stress-tests.
Non-Fiction · the Pro canon
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
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