Regional Cultures and Mortality in America

'Understanding what determines differences in health between populations is a central preoccupation of public health. Stephen Kunitz tackles the heterogeneity of mortality experience across individual states in the United States. In a scholarly and thought-provoking manner, he draws on a broad literature to argue that historically informed differences in state culture, running back centuries, influence health via the manner in which communities mobilize state and private institutions to advance the public good. This book is an important contribution to the study of determinants of population health, challenging as it does simplistic one-dimensional explanations. Its scope and intelligence will engage anyone interested in these big and difficult questions.' David Leon, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

'Stephen Kunitz has given us an inspiring book of extraordinary importance. He engages historical perspectives, regional cultures, national institutions and social traumas in the study of mortality. His approach might be of interest to scientists in many fields, and to humanists in many disciplines, as an example of how we might learn from one another.' David Hackett Fischer, Earl Warren Professor of History, Brandeis University, Massachusetts

'… provides a much-needed explanation for a long-standing and well-documented problem: regional and social inequality in mortality in the United States … Kunitz's investigation into the social determinants of health and mortality in the United States takes a broad structural perspective that is refreshing to readers of the population health literature.' Andrew Fenelon, Population and Development Review

'Regional Cultures and Mortality in America presents a novel approach that may challenge the traditional way policymakers, public health practitioners, and many other disciplines develop one-size-fits-all programs designed to change risk behavior at the individual level. Kunitz makes a thorough and compelling argument that we must take a broader look at a state's culture, policies and institutions, while mindful of differences in mortality among subpopulations.' Jillian Jacobellis, New Mexico Historical Review

'Stephen Kunitz has presented a thought-provoking book that engages history, public health, and economics … Scholars will certainly continue to think about the ways in which regional variation informs how people die, and therefore with an eye for helping people live.' Richard M. Mizelle, Jr, Bulletin of the History of Medicine