This study describes the early work of the International Health Commission of the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the first US philanthropic agencies that decided around 1913 to operate abroad. It traces the previous efforts to understand and fight hookworm disease, efforts conducted by doctors in the US South and all around the world. Steven Palmer gives visibility to the investigations and accomplishments of professionals from developing countries, who sometimes worked independently from European centers of medical knowledge and before Rockefeller aid and experts even existed.
This book is not only a study about the Rockefeller Foundation in a Latin American region that was not really studied before; it also presents a sound comparison and treatment of diverse sources and a novel and intriguing interpretation that might generate some refreshing discussion. It concentrates on the racial, economic, and political idiosyncrasies of the recipients of Rockefeller sanitary missions in two Caribbean British...
