Joycelyn Elders, M.D.: From Sharecropper's Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States of America

Dr. Elders, with David Chanoff, has written a folksy and humble account of her life's journey from sharecropper's daughter in rural Arkansas to Surgeon General of the United States. Interestingly, given the controversial circumstances of her forced resignation when she was demonized by the Republican right for open discussion of sexuality, Dr. Elders reveals an upbringing suffused with the sort of family values that she was accused of destroying. "There wasn't any alcoholism," she writes, "nor was there any talk of men beating their wives, or of separation or divorce either." Her own sex education was typically scant, and indeed one has the impression of a woman who remained somewhat naive on such matters even as she gained an education beyond the comprehension of her parents.