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A History of Immigrants and Disease.

Holding immigrants responsible for various health epidemics has been an American pastime for two centuries argues Alan Kraut, Professor of History at American University. Just as the Irish were wrongly blamed for the cholera epidemic in the 1830's so too were Haitians in Miami branded as AIDS carriers in the 1980's. His new book "Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, & the "Immigrant Menace"" (Basic Books) traces how immigration policy and health care have been affected by xenophobia and public fears of contamination. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

14:17
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Other segments from the episode on March 9, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, March 9, 1994: Interview with Zlata Filipovic; Interview with Alan Kraut; Review of Claude Williams' album "Live at J's."
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22:53

Zlata Filipovic Discusses Being a Child in the Yugoslav War.

Zlata Filipovic is a thirteen year-old Sarajevan, whose diaries of the war in Bosnia have been published this month as "Zlata's Diary" (Viking). The book begins in August of 1991, with a new school year --fifth grade-- and the trappings of girlhood: piano lessons and tennis. By that spring, Sarajevo was under siege and Zlata's schoolmates were being killed, her family hiding in the basement and abandoned purebred dogs wandered the streets.

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22:18

Joseph Califano on the Direction of America's Social Programs

The health care analyst and substance abuse expert was LBJ's assistant for domestic affairs from 1959-65 and Secretary for Health, Education and Welfare under Jimmy Carter from 1977-79. He has written a book about health care reform called "Radical Surgery," and is president of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, a research and experimental care facility at Columbia University. Terry will be talking to him about health care reform, welfare reform and substance abuse.

Interview
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22:45

The Ethics and Economics of Medicine.

Author Daniel Callahan. He is an expert on medical ethics whose latest book is "What Kind of Life: The Limits of Medical Progress." The book questions the assumption that everyone should receive the most life sustaining medical care available. According to Callahan, we need to change our thinking about health and illness and focus on the quality of life rather than the extension of life. (Interview by Sedge Thomson)

Interview

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