Our guest is Dr. Elisha Waldman, a pediatric palliative care physician now based in Chicago, who tells us about his new book. It's a memoir called "This Narrow Space: A Pediatric Oncologist, His Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Patients, and a Hospital in Jerusalem," and it chronicles -- in ways lyrical, bittersweet, and inspiring -- the seven years he spent as a pediatric oncologist in Jerusalem. While there, as we learn, Dr. Waldman treated kids from various backgrounds -- Israeli Jews, Muslims, and Christians, as well as Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza -- all of whom had been diagnosed with cancer. As was noted of this volume in The New York Times Book Review: "A fantastic book.... Waldman exhibits a rare self-awareness [and] shows great honesty. [This book] illustrates just how difficult it is to reconcile devotion to the healing mission with the realities of a complex life."
"This Narrow Space: A Pediatric Oncologist, His Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Patients...."
