While We Were Sleeping: Success Stories in Injury and Violence Prevention

“While We Were Sleeping brings the stories of injury prevention alive. The stories link research to successful advocacy for change and highlight the need to translate data—to put a face on it—in order to make change. These are stories of creativity, courage, and commitment.”—Linda C. Degutis, DrPH, MSN, Yale University

"'While we were sleeping,' things were happening—good things!—that most of us were not aware of. Injuries of almost all kinds, to children, teenagers, elderly, disabled, and ordinary folks were being drastically reduced. David Hemenway documents this progress, some of it in the nineteenth century, most of it in our lifetimes, with analysis of what brought it about and, in some cases, who the heroes were. It's exhilarating to read—instructive and exhaustively documented by an author who has devoted a career to this kind of analysis." —Thomas C. Schelling, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Harvard University

"I wish I had written this book. It is astute, inspiring, full of fascinating ideas, and it shows precisely how success in public health is achieved. David Hemenway has given us a story of heroic grit and remarkable achievement—indeed, a whole compendium of reasons for optimism about what people and society can do."—Atul Gawande, author of Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance