Anne-Emanuelle Birn’s Marriage of Convenience is the latest in a series of studies drawing on the Rockefeller Foundation’s rich archival material to analyze its Latin American reform programs, which ranged from disease control to agricultural productivity and educational reform. This work is a deeply researched examination of the evolution of modern medical care in Mexico as well as the roots of global health services in the contemporary era. Birn’s study offers insights into the goals and strategies of the foundation as well as its complex relationship with the Mexican state and public health professionals. Interactions between the foundation’s International Health Division (IHD) and its Mexican partners were shaped by two often contrasting strategies. The foundation’s professionals sought to eradicate specific contagions in campaigns that would be conducted by trained doctors, nurses, and engineers. Mexican professionals, while they did not reject a disease-oriented approach, were also concerned with the social origins...

You do not currently have access to this content.