Books by Arthur W. Frank

Stories accompany us through life from birth to death. Stories connect people, but they can also disconnect, creating boundaries between people and justifying violence. This book grapples with this fundamental aspect of our lives, offering both a theory of how stories shape us and a useful method for analyzing them.

Drawing on the work of authors such as Oliver Sacks, Anatole Broyard, Norman Cousins, and Audre Lorde, as well as the people he met during the years he spent among different illness groups, the author recounts a collection of illness stories.

Through engaging narratives of illness, medical work, and nursing in which people choose to act in ways that affirm their humanity, this book depicts the transformation of demoralized medicine into caring relationships through generosity - generosity towards both others and oneself. It demonstrates how generosity is renewed through dialogue.