AJC DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL
Pat Conroy tribute keynote event, 8 p.m. Sept. 2 at Emory's Schwartz Center. Dav Pilkey kidnote event, 5 p.m. Sept. 2 at Decatur High School's Performing Arts Center. Festival, 9:30 a.m.-6:15 p.m. Sept. 3; 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 4. All events free; tickets required for keynote and kidnote events. AJC Decatur Book Festival Schedule
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz crossed verbal swords during a February presidential debate as discussion turned to health care.
“I will not allow people to die on the sidewalks and the streets of our country if I’m president,” Trump barked as Cruz needled him for specifics.
The campaign lowlight, perhaps inadvertently, struck a historically relevant chord.
“Keeping people from dying in the streets is how we created public hospitals 200 years ago,” said Mike King, author of “A Spirit of Charity: Restoring the Bond Between America and Its Public Hospitals.”
King will appear during the AJC Decatur Book Festival on Sept. 4. He'll be joined by Dr. Sheryl Gabram-Mendola, a professor of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Center at Grady Georgia Cancer Coalition.
King, a former Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor and columnist, spent years researching the book. The work explores the current state of health care by delving into its past, and King’s expertise in science and medical journalism renders his complex, often confusing, sometimes infuriating topic as a compelling, richly informative narrative.
“We still have this discussion today about whether the poor are worthy enough to afford health care,” he said. “Because employment has been the basis of health care, we think, ‘Oh, if they just get jobs.’ A lot of jobs available don’t come with health care.”
Mike King will discuss “A Spirit of Charity: Restoring the Bond Between America and Its Public Hospitals” at 5 p.m. Sept. 4 at First Baptist Decatur’s Carreker Hall.
