Holding On

Holding On is a new portrait of American poverty-a social, political, and economic condition rooted in an unequal, unfair, and unsustainable system. Alyson O'Daniel reveals the lives that are at stake in such a system, and the struggle of poor African American women to survive it with dignity. -Alisse Waterston, author of My Father's Wars: Migration, Memory, and the Violence of a Century -- Alisse Waterston Holding On explores crucial aspects of the health disparities debate: how attempts to ease the impact of serious chronic conditions often create as many problems as they set out to solve and how legislation focusing on marginalized groups-especially people of color-can generate unintended consequences. O'Daniel tackles these problems while offering a gripping account of how HIV-positive African American women navigate the many challenges they face. -Sabrina Marie Chase, author of Surviving HIV/AIDS in the Inner City: How Resourceful Latinas Beat the Odds -- Sabrina Marie Chase Holding On is an important piece of medical anthropology. -Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database -- Jack David Eller * Anthropology Review Database * At a time when the lives of African American women surviving with HIV are not commonly illuminated, Holding On provides an important addition to the anthropological and public health literature. -Martina Thomas, Medical Anthropology Quarterly -- Martina Thomas * Medical Anthropology Quarterly *