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THE BOOK CORNER: A trio of timely health tomes will prove essential for increasing your sophistication about key health issues facing African-Americans today. Marilyn Hughes Gaston, M.D., and Gayle K. Porter, Psy.D., have coauthored Prime Time (©2001 Ballantine/One World, $25.95). Dr. Gaston, the dean of American Women Medical Administrators, has built an illustrious career in service as a prime architect of government health policy. Now she has turned her talents to the long-neglected needs of the African-American woman in midlife. Seven million-strong, African-American women over 40 need information on menopause, navigating the healthcare system, managing stress, and supporting children (and, all too often, grandchildren). In addition, they often must learn to care for themselves after a lifetime of focusing their energies on others. In Prime Time, they get information and strategies for all this and more. The 500-page volume specifies tips, advice, and graphics that all serve to bolster a woman's determination to maximize health and happiness at every age. Coauthor Gayle K. Porter, Psy.D., helps add an important psychological sophistication. The book is rich in inspirational anecdotes that illustrate common health and lifestyle dilemmas. Chapters such as "Reframing Your Priorities," "Putting Self-Care Into Action," and "Living Sane In A World That Can Seem Insane" make Prime Time indispensable reading for African-American women, and a perfect way to celebrate reaching 40. The gift of better health and a longer life is the promise embodied in The Black Man's Guide to Good Health by James W. Reed, M.D., Neil Shulman, M.D., and Charlene Shucker (©2001 Hilton Publishing, 1-800-888-4741). This rare resource for the black man fulfills the promise brilliantly. It covers the gamut of men's health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, and prostate cancer from the unique perspective of black men. Prevention, health maintenance, diet, exercise, and lifestyles are all clearly and exhaustively covered here. But this is no more than what we would expect from Dr. Reed, a professor at Morehouse School of Medicine. The real beauty of this book runs much deeper, in Dr. Reed's ability to match language to not only the health but also the oft-neglected emotional and spiritual needs of men. Living Healthy With Hepatitis C, by Harriet A. Washington (©2000 Bantam/Dell, $6.95) melds cutting-edge science with a cornucopia of practical information and advice for anyone who has been diagnosed with hepatitis C, whose loved one is infected or who simply wants to know more about this viral illness. That number includes many African-Americans, because a higher proportion of black than white Americans are infected with HCV, the virus that causes hepatitis C. A few other books about hepatitis C have been written, but none has combined a wealth of information on conventional and complementary medical approaches as this work does. Cutting-edge therapies such as pegylated interferon, liver transplants, and experimental transplantation share this volume with support groups, guided imagery, hypnosis, supplements, herbs, and other approaches. Neither does Washington ignore the spiritual and psychological dimensions of the disease. She begins by reassuring the reader that HCV is not uniformly fatal-far from it. At least 80 percent of people who contract hepatitis C will die from something else. But profound fatigue and depression are complications that necessitate medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes. This book tells affected people how to choose the best medical treatments and qualified expert physicians to maximize their health and chances of a long, productive life.
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