Saving Gotham
The novel Saving Gotham, written by Tom Farley, MD, is a significant piece of public health literature that dives into the details of the biggest and most influential campaigns of the modern century. It exposes the behind the scene workings of public health advocacy, policy and implementation, and tackles various topics that guide the overall outcome of health in a community. These topics include the removal of big soda sizes from the market and the addition of a soda tax, the application of laws that limit and reduce smoking, and policies that enforce the display of the nutrition calorie count on restaurant menus, ensure the removal of trans fat from restaurant food, and reduce the amount of sodium intake from prepackaged foods across the consumer market. …show more content…
Tom Friedman was hired by Mayor Bloomberg as the New York City health commissioner in 2002, and the author, physician Tom Farley, was a previous Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whom later became Frieden’s successor in 2009. Farley used the book to reveal the inner workings of politics and the manipulative tactics adopted by officials in charge of large industries that manufacture food and beverages, produce tobacco, and encourage the consumption of goods that can have detrimental effects on the health of the public. The aim of this critical book review is to examine the concepts and arguments that occurred throughout the text, and to assess any notable strengths and weaknesses that were observed while absorbing the
The novel Saving Gotham, written by Tom Farley, MD, is a significant piece of public health literature that dives into the details of the biggest and most influential campaigns of the modern century. It exposes the behind the scene workings of public health advocacy, policy and implementation, and tackles various topics that guide the overall outcome of health in a community. These topics include the removal of big soda sizes from the market and the addition of a soda tax, the application of laws that limit and reduce smoking, and policies that enforce the display of the nutrition calorie count on restaurant menus, ensure the removal of trans fat from restaurant food, and reduce the amount of sodium intake from prepackaged foods across the consumer market. …show more content…
Tom Friedman was hired by Mayor Bloomberg as the New York City health commissioner in 2002, and the author, physician Tom Farley, was a previous Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whom later became Frieden’s successor in 2009. Farley used the book to reveal the inner workings of politics and the manipulative tactics adopted by officials in charge of large industries that manufacture food and beverages, produce tobacco, and encourage the consumption of goods that can have detrimental effects on the health of the public. The aim of this critical book review is to examine the concepts and arguments that occurred throughout the text, and to assess any notable strengths and weaknesses that were observed while absorbing the