Bronson Brookside Book Discussion Group

"American Sirens" by Kevin Hazzard

Read "American Sirens" by Kevin Hazzard and then join us for a lively discussion about this extraordinary story of an unjustly forgotten group of Black men who became America's first paramedics.

Until the 1970s, if you suffered a medical crisis, your chances of survival were minimal. A 9-1-1 call might bring police or even the local funeral home. But that all changed with Freedom House EMS in Pittsburgh, a group of Black men who became America’s first paramedics and set the gold standard for emergency medicine around the world, only to have their story and their legacy erased — until now.

In American Sirens, acclaimed journalist and paramedic Kevin Hazzard tells the dramatic story of how a group of young, undereducated Black men forged a new frontier of healthcare. He follows a rich cast of characters that includes John Moon, an orphan who found his calling as a paramedic; Peter Safar, the Nobel Prize-nominated physician who invented CPR and realized his vision for a trained ambulance service; and Nancy Caroline, the idealistic young doctor who turned a scrappy team into an international leader. At every turn, Freedom House battled racism — from the community, the police and the government. Their job was grueling, the rules made up as they went along, their mandate nearly impossible — and yet despite the long odds and fierce opposition, they succeeded spectacularly. Never before revealed in full, this is a rich and troubling hidden history of the Black origins of America’s paramedics, a special band of dedicated essential workers, who stand ready to serve day and night on the line between life and death for every one of us.

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