Physician and writer DAVID HILFIKER, M.D. has committed his life to social justice in the practice of his two professions. In 1983, after seven years as a rural physician in north-eastern Minnesota, he moved to Washington, D.C., to practice medicine in the center of the city at Christ House, a medical recovery shelter for homeless men, where he and his family also lived. In 1990, he cofounded Joseph’s House, a community and hospice for formerly homeless men dying with AIDS. He lived there for three years, and continues to work there today.
“Hilfiker knows a good deal about an America about which most folks in this nation have very little real knowledge, other than disturbing stereotypes, clichés, and misinformation. . . . It is a welcome addition to a field that may, indeed must, one day spark change.” –Mumia Abu-Jamal “Quietly compelling, level headed, yet surprisingly disturbing—and extremely useful book because it spurs us to look past the frozen landscape of U.S. apartheid's present boundaries and imagine a transformed scenario. . . . I am deeply grateful to the author for the hope and guidance of this book.” –Jonathan Kozol