State of health : pleasure and politics in Venezuelan health care under Chávez /

Given the current polarized situation in Venezuela, medical anthropologist Amy Cooper provides important and compelling insights into how ordinary people experienced policy changes during Hugo Chávez's progressive government (1999--2013). Due to extreme social inequalities, previously healthcare had been largely restricted to those with wealth, power, and privilege. While Venezuela enjoyed a world-class plastic surgery industry, people in poor and marginalized neighborhoods rarely if ever saw a doctor. To correct that injustice, Chávez launched his most famous and successful social program: Barrio Adentro or "Into the neighborhood," a project to introduce free and universal access to healthcare. This book really shines in its ethnographic exploration of how historically disempowered Venezuelans--poor people, people of color, and women--the vast majority of the country's population, experienced the healthcare system. In listening to people's stories, Cooper gained innovative insights into how government programs can provide a mechanism for social inclusion and empowerment, including how those institutions transform people's sense of themselves. Nicely complements other works that provide a bottom-up perspective on recent political developments in Venezuela, including Gregory Wilpert's Changing Venezuela by Taking Power (Verso, 2007) and George Ciccariello-Maher's We Created Chávez (Duke, 2013). Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Marc Becker, Truman State University