The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Summary (from the publisher): Who, you might ask, is Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951) and why is she the subject of a book? On the surface, this short-lived African American Virginian seems an unlikely candidate for immortality. The most remarkable thing about her, some might argue, is that she had five children during her thirty-one years on earth. Actually, we all owe Ms. Lacks a great debt and some of us owe her our lives. As Rebecca Skloot tells us in this riveting human story, Henrietta was the involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumors that have been cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These so-called HeLa cells have not only generated billions of dollars for the medical industry; they have helped uncover secrets of cancers, viruses, fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping. A vivid, exciting story; a 2010 Discover Great New Books finalist; a surprise bestseller in hardcover.

Review: Excellent example of well-researched, well-written nonfiction. This is the story of an industry's disregard for a family's grief when pursuing science, intertwined with the Lacks' family journey to understand their mother's death and why her cells were so important to science. Great picture of the evolution of the legal system, medicine, and race relations in the United States since the 1950s.

Stars: 4