Publishers Weekly
★ 06/27/2022
Journalist and former paramedic Hazzard (A Thousand Naked Strangers) paints a riveting portrait of Freedom House EMS, a pioneering group of Black paramedics in 1970s Pittsburgh. Expertly contextualizing the group’s achievements within the contentious racial climate and archaic medical practices of the era, Hazzard spotlights medic John Moon, who “loved Angela Davis and the afro but polite to the point (almost) of deference”; Peter Safar, an émigré Austrian anesthesiologist inspired by his 11-year-old daughter’s death from an asthma attack to reimagine ambulance services and paramedic training; and Freedom House medical director Nancy Caroline, who was tapped by Safar to revamp his training program. Hazzard explains how the 1966 death of former Pittsburgh mayor David Lawrence highlighted the inadequacy of ambulance care provided by the city’s police department, which also had an “acrimonious” relationship with residents of Pittsburgh’s predominantly African American neighborhood, the Hill District. He also documents Freedom House’s battles with a stubborn mayor and police leaders, and the stirring stories of Black paramedics who developed methods now used by ambulance departments around the world. The result is a fascinating and deeply rewarding study of triumph in the face of adversity. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Remarkable….there are a lot of terrific stories and interesting characters, and it's worth getting this.”—Dave Davies, "Fresh Air" (NPR)
“Journalist and former paramedic Kevin Hazzard paints a vivid picture of the nation’s first EMS service….His book succeeds in recalling long-overlooked events. It’s a medical and human drama that will make readers appreciate the courage of the first paramedics, the foresight of a physician not content to restrict emergency medicine to other doctors and the artistry of modern EMS workers. It’s also a narrative bristling with the indignities of racism and medical ignorance. Hazzard’s subjects defied and overcame prejudice but also were often overwhelmed by both….American Sirens isn’t a book you’re likely to forget.”—The Washington Post
“A gripping story of the people, places, and times that led to the development of Freedom House Ambulance Service, a Pittsburgh-based group of Black men whose efforts laid the foundation for the emergency medical services we take for granted today. Like many chapters of Black history, American Sirens is equal parts tragic and inspiring.” —Damon Tweedy, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine
"A riveting portrait...a fascinating and deeply rewarding study of triumph in the face of adversity."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A work that a reads like a novel. Hazzard relates how a group of African American visionaries, most of whom had been trapped in menial jobs, saw what health-policy experts did not . . . After their new discipline proved its value in saving lives, organized emergency care, like so many arenas in US medicine, excluded the Black men who invented it and effaced the history of what all Americans owe them, but this riveting page-turner brings these medical heroes long-delayed acclaim.” —Harriet Washington, NBCC Award Winning Author of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
"Kevin Hazzard...does an excellent job of transforming his research into a compelling narrative suitable to his gripping subject....American Sirens is a stirring, ultimately heartbreaking story in which jaw-dropping medical innovation meets racial prejudice. After finishing Hazzard's memorable account, readers will never hear an ambulance siren the same way again."—BookPage
"In a quintessentially American story that reads like a novel, Kevin Hazzard crafts an amazing story of an Austrian immigrant, an unlikely group of Black men, and a minority community in Pittsburgh who transformed paramedic and ambulance care throughout the United States . . . This heart-warming story is not just Black history, but American history, and every American truly owes the medics of Freedom House a debt of gratitude." —Gretchen Sorin, Author of Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights
"Kevin Hazzard's revelatory American Sirens is a rich, vibrant and deeply human look into the wild journey of American innovation. Hazzard's exacting and expansive research is deeply present on every page, yet it feels invisible, as this electric story pulses, engages, and surprises like a great novel. Each chapter unlocks a new and important angle of this almost forgotten story, which makes it almost pathologically compelling to read. American Sirens brings a necessary spotlight to a fascinating, near-forgotten, and uniquely American tale."
—Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, New York Times bestselling author of Dr Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
“An amazing book: a forgotten story about real life health care heroes inseparable from the ongoing tragedy of racism in America. Kevin Hazzard has performed a national service by writing American Sirens.”—Theresa Brown, RN, New York Times bestselling author of The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives
"In this brilliant narrative, Kevin Hazzard leads us on a tour through the history of jazz, baseball, and the misnamed “urban renewal,” to set the stage for Freedom House, a Pittsburgh ambulance service staffed by Black men, that birthed the emergency medical services we all rely on today."—Julie Holland, MD, bestselling author of Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych ER
“Hazzard has a novelist’s sense of character and narrative drive. He’s at his best telling the story of John Moon [which] makes for gripping and inspiring reading. And Hazzard’s own experience as a paramedic helps us understand why achievement’s like Moon’s learning how to do an intubation in the field was such a big deal…Readers of American Sirens will be more than satisfied, and can hope Hazzard has helped revive and secure the legacy of everyone who breathed Freedom House into life.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“If readers have ever wondered about the history of paramedicine and how it can transform lives (paramedic and patient alike) look no further than this wonderful, enlightening work by former paramedic [Kevin] Hazzard…. Through extensive research and interviews, the author successfully incorporates the checkered history of paramedicine with the racial and social history of the mid-20th century. Furthermore, he engages the reader with the personal stories of all those involved in the development of the new system. Hazzard has fashioned an exceptional work about radical changes in health care and the importance of community in dark times.”—Library Journal
A Publishers' Weekly Book of the Week Pick!
**Winner of The Christopher Award for books that highlight kindness, courage, and faith**
Library Journal
09/01/2022
If readers have ever wondered about the history of paramedicine and how it can transform lives (paramedic and patient alike) look no further than this wonderful, enlightening work by former paramedic Hazzard (A Thousand Naked Strangers). Prior to the mid-1960s, ambulance services were either nonexistent or haphazard. Even the most critical patients were driven to the hospital by morticians or police officers with no medical training. In Pittsburgh, Black residents did not trust the police department nor were they getting proper medical care. This problem led leaders of an organization called Freedom House to collaborate with an Austrian-born doctor, Peter Safar, to create an ambulance service staffed with trained Black paramedics. This revolutionary idea became so successful that other cities and towns began to replicate its program and standards. Through extensive research and interviews, the author successfully incorporates the checkered history of paramedicine with the racial and social history of the mid-20th century. Furthermore, he engages the reader with the personal stories of all those involved in the development of the new system. VERDICT Hazzard has fashioned an exceptional work about radical changes in health care and the importance of community in dark times.—Leah K. Huey
Kirkus Reviews
2022-07-20
A mostly inspiring account of the early days of American emergency services and the Black men who advanced the level of care and attention.
As journalist and former paramedic Hazzard points out, until the 1970s, if someone suffered a medical crisis, a call for help brought the police or perhaps a hearse from the local mortuary. If the victim was bleeding, struggling to breath, or in cardiac arrest, the untrained attendants did nothing; their job was transportation to a hospital. Critics maintained that this “swoop and scoop” process led to thousands of preventable deaths each year. Central to reform was Peter Safar, a fiercely dedicated anesthesiologist who tried to establish an emergency ambulance service, a plan killed by police and doctor opposition. In 1967, a breakthrough arrived in the form of the Freedom House, a tiny nonprofit “with the long-term goal of fostering Black-owned businesses.” Galvanized after receiving a federal grant, Safar organized an intense, nine-month course to teach emergency procedures. Forty-four Black men joined the first class; 24 emerged in early 1968 and went to work. Hazzard recounts many dramatic rescues along with the lives of individual volunteers, often high school dropouts with difficult pasts, who became skilled paramedics. Within years, cities throughout the nation established their own emergency services. Yet this is not a story with a happy ending. Peter Flaherty, the newly elected White mayor, cut the Freedom House budget and inflicted petty aggravations—e.g., forbidding ambulances from operating sirens downtown. Stubbornly uncooperative, police continued to respond to calls and, if they arrived first, carried the victims away without emergency treatment. In 1974, Flaherty announced expansion of city emergency services, but it would be run by the police. As a result, Freedom House disbanded. Faced with vigorous opposition, Flaherty agreed to hire every employee who wanted to join, but those who transferred were harassed and given subordinate positions under men with less training.
Good history and an admirable effort to document the achievements of a pioneering Black organization.
