The Breast Cancer Wars - Hope, Fear, and the Pursuit of a Cure in Twentieth-Century America

Military metaphors have long been used in promoting breast cancer awareness, prevention, and treatment. Lerner presents a remarkably readable understanding of distinctly American attitudes toward the disease and the ways in which American culture and society have influenced its treatment. Illustrations.

List of contents

• 1: Introduction


• 2: Establishing a Tradition


• 3: Inventing a Curable Disease


• 4: The Scalpel Triumphant


• 5: A Heretical Interlude


• 6: Reality Check


• 7: "I Alone Am in Charge of My Body"


• 8: No Shrinking Violet


• 9: Seek and Ye Shall Find


• 10: "The World Has Passed Us By"


• 11: The Past as Prologue


• 12: Risky Business


• 13: Epilogue


• 14: Postscript

About the author

Barron H. Lerner, M.D. is Angelica Berrie Gold Foundation Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, where he teaches internal medicine, medical history, and bioethics. He is the author of Contagion and Confinement: Controlling Tuberculosis Along the Skid Road as well as articles in professional journals and publications such as The Washington Post. He lives with his wife and two children in Westchester County, New York.

Summary

In this narrative, Barron H. Lerner offers a medical and cultural history of our century-long battle with breast cancer. Revisiting the past, Lerner argues, can illuminate and clarify the dilemmas confronted by women with, and at risk from, the disease.

Additional text

The sort of book that every woman diagnosed with breast cancer should read before she seeks treatment.

Product details

• Authors: Lerner, Barron H. Lerner, Barron H. (Angelica Berrie Gold Foundation Assistant Professor of Medicine and Public Health Lerner, Lerner Barron H.
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9780195161069
• ISBN: 978-0-19-516106-9
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 454 g
• Illustrations: 15 half tones and 6 line drawings
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Non-clinical medicine; HEALTH & FITNESS / General, MEDICAL / History, Popular medicine & health, History of Medicine, Oncology, Popular medicine and health, MEDICAL / Oncology / General