A vital, eye-opening exploration of race and health

WINNER OF THE BREAD & ROSES PRIZE FOR RADICAL PUBLISHING 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE 2024 A FINALIST FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2023 A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST SUMMER BOOK OF 2023 'Important and ambitious' Observer, Book of the Day 'An illuminating and powerful intersectional analysis of health inequalities and racism' i-D Magazine 'Prepare to be blown away' Chikwe Ihekweazu, Assistant Director General at WHO In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all too aware of the urgent health inequalities that plague our world. But these inequalities have always been urgent: modern medicine has a colonial and racist history. Here, in an essential and searing account, Annabel Sowemimo unravels the colonial roots of modern medicine. Tackling systemic racism, hidden histories and healthcare myths, Sowemimo recounts her own experiences as a doctor, patient and activist. Divided exposes the racial biases of medicine that affect our everyday lives and provides an illuminating - and incredibly necessary - insight into how our world works, and who it works for. This book will reshape how we see health and medicine - forever. 'A vital call to action' Leah Hazard, author of Womb 'Urgent examination of how modern medicine is intertwined with colonial histories and racist ideas ... compelling story-telling' Joanna Wolfarth, author of Milk 'Outstanding ... beautifully written and erudite, yet highly accessible ... should be mandatory reading for all medical practitioners' Jacqueline Roy, author of The Fat Lady Sings 'Necessary. In the right hands, this book will save lives' Nova Reid, author of The Good Ally

"An illuminating and powerful intersectional analysis of health inequalities and racism" - i-D Magazine, All the books to be excited for in 2023

"Important and ambitious ... Divided is a necessary book ... A call to action" - Observer

"An unflinching, hugely eye-opening exploration of medicine's brutal colonial history" - The i

"Divided restores [historic Black and Indigenous scientists] to the history of medicine and makes a convincing case for decolonising healthcare" - New Scientist

"This polemic [...] explains how health divisions are not accidental but occur because of ways in which modern healthcare is built on the back of race science and our colonial history." - Bookseller, Editor's Choice

"Racism is still rife in a health system weighed down by a legacy of eugenics, unethical experimentation and egregious inequality, writes black doctor Sowemimo in this important plea to decolonise modern medicine" - FT