The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
- Pan MacMillan 2010
- xii, 431 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 20 cm
Machine generated contents note: Prologue: The Woman in the Photograph -- Deborah's Voice -- pt. ONE LIFE -- 1. The Exam ... 1951 -- 2. Clover ... 1920-1942 -- 3. Diagnosis and Treatment ... 1951 -- 4. The Birth of HeLa ... 1951 -- 5."Blackness Be Spreadin All Inside" ... 1951 -- 6."Lady's on the Phone" ... 1999 -- 7. The Death and Life of Cell Culture ... 1951 -- 8."A Miserable Specimen" ... 1951 -- 9. Turner Station ... 1999 -- 10. The Other Side of the Tracks ... 1999 -- 11."The Devil of Pain Itself" ... 1951 -- pt. TWO DEATH -- 12. The Storm ... 1951 -- 13. The HeLa Factory ... 1951-1953 -- 14. Helen Lane ... 1953-1954 -- 15."Too Young to Remember" ... 1951 -- 1965 -- 16."Spending Eternity in the Same Place" ... 1999 -- 17. Illegal, Immoral, and Deplorable ... 1954-1966 -- 18."Strangest Hybrid" ... 1960-1966 -- 19."The Most Critical Time on This Earth Is Now" ... 1966-1973 -- 20. The HeLa Bomb ... 1966 -- 21. Night Doctors ... 2000 -- 22."The Fame She So Richly Deserves" ... 1970-1973.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells - taken without her knowledge - became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences ...Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world. "A fascinating, harrowing, necessary book". (Hilary Mantel, "Guardian"). "A heartbreaking account of racism and injustice". ("Metro"). "A fine book...a gripping read...The book has deservedly been a huge bestseller in the US. It should be here, too". ("Sunday Times").