The Spirit Catches You and You Fall by Anne Fadiman is a nonfiction book that brings to light the clash between Hmong culture and Western medicine in Merced, California. Anne Fadiman tells the story of a Hmong immigrant family, the Lees, and the unfortunate condition of epilepsy from which their daughter Lia suffers. Throughout the book the reader sees great conflict inflicted on the doctors due to Lee's cultural beliefs and the frustration suffered by the family due to communication problems. Anne develops the story by providing a detailed background to the way of life of the Hmong people in their indigenous homeland of Laos, how it contributes to their beliefs, and their struggle to understand and accept Western practices. The name Hmong literally translates to "free men" reflecting the hundreds of years they spent specifically fighting for their freedom from Chinese control and French taxation. The Hmong people lead a nomadic lifestyle due to their “swidden” farming techniques. They mainly resorted to living on isolated mountain tops where they could not only avoid scrutiny by other Laotians but also “[peer] down on their masters like eagles watching mice [as if to] maintain a sense of superiority” ( Clapsaddle, 19) . Hmong agricultural techniques, in addition to the opium crop, allowed them to be completely self-sufficient. This type of lifestyle reflects the beliefs that the Hmong people live by. They are strong-willed, stubborn, do not take orders very well, are sometimes arrogant, and prefer to flee or fight for their cultural mores rather than surrender. These types of characteristics are strongly present when seeing the fight between Western doctors and the Lee family. The reader immediately sees a sect... in the middle of the paper... its own cultural practices on an individual level. when dealing with Western medical institutions. Yes, I would recommend this book to use in this course in the future. I would also like to try to make this book part of the curriculum for other public health and social science courses. I think this book does a great job of describing not only the issue of maternal and child health in an artistic and intriguing way, but I feel it involves issues of multiculturalism that are a big underlying problem in today's society. Respect for the cultures of new immigrants has been lost over time and I believe this book helps us return to our “melting pot” paths. This book opened my eyes to issues I didn't even know existed and can help many learn to accept different cultures in a way that is beneficial to both parties, not just in the medical field of maternal and child health..