At its core, this is the story of scientific discovery and its human consequences. The multi-faceted portrayal of a poor Southern tobacco farmer by the name Henrietta Lacks who posthumously became one of the most important tools in modern medicine is a stark reminder of where medical research has come from and where it has progressed. We follow the story of Henrietta’s cells, unknowingly taken from her cervical cancer cultures months before her untimely death, which were named HeLa and are currently alive and propagating in medical labs around the world. The famous and widespread cells were instrumental in major scientific breakthroughs in the 20th century, such as developing the polio vaccine; testing chemotherapy drugs; finding techniques for in vitro fertilization; uncovering the secrets of the atom bomb's effects; and mapping genes onto human chromosomes. Yet even with all this, Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown and is buried in an unmarked grave.
Now, with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia to present-day East Baltimore, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Even 20 years after her death, Henrietta’s own family didn't know that her doctor had taken the cells and proceeded to share and trade them with other researchers. While such an occurrence was standard medical practice in the 1950s, the family was especially surprised to learn that those cells were eventually being sold for a profit among labs and medical companies. Was this a case of racial exploitation or simply how science progresses? Skloot found Henrietta’s family living in poverty, struggling to understand how their loved one could have saved so many lives while her own could not be saved. For them, it was particularly hard to come to grips with the fact that their mother or grandmother had done so much for the medical community and biological companies, yet they cannot even afford good medical care themselves. The story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the troubled history of experimentation on African Americans and the birth of bioethics in the decades after Henrietta’s death.
As for the scholarship contained within the book, Skloot’s research and presentation of her facts is cogent and balanced. She effectively navigated the difficult terrain of respecting the memory of Henrietta Lacks and her family, while at the same time telling this story in a very intimate, meticulous, and honest manner – not an easy task. I’d point specifically to the sections dealing with Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, who clearly gained a real sense of healing, deliverance, and understanding that she had been searching for her whole life as it pertains to her mother’s unacknowledged contributions to science. Outside of the human interest portion of this book, Skloot also managed to effectively explain the complex scientific information in a way that anyone can comprehend and be interested by. The multiple stories told here weave through each other as the pages turn: the story of Henrietta; the story of the Lacks family and their history; the story of experimentation on African Americans in the 1950s; the story about science and ethics; and finally, the story of the legal battles over whether we ourselves control the science contained in our own bodies. In the end, the family declared “God chose Henrietta as an angel who would be reborn as immortal cells"…and that’s exactly where I would leave it.
Highly readable and a riveting account is one I would recommend for pretty much anyone!
*10/10*
Now, with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the "colored" ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta's small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia to present-day East Baltimore, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Even 20 years after her death, Henrietta’s own family didn't know that her doctor had taken the cells and proceeded to share and trade them with other researchers. While such an occurrence was standard medical practice in the 1950s, the family was especially surprised to learn that those cells were eventually being sold for a profit among labs and medical companies. Was this a case of racial exploitation or simply how science progresses? Skloot found Henrietta’s family living in poverty, struggling to understand how their loved one could have saved so many lives while her own could not be saved. For them, it was particularly hard to come to grips with the fact that their mother or grandmother had done so much for the medical community and biological companies, yet they cannot even afford good medical care themselves. The story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the troubled history of experimentation on African Americans and the birth of bioethics in the decades after Henrietta’s death.
As for the scholarship contained within the book, Skloot’s research and presentation of her facts is cogent and balanced. She effectively navigated the difficult terrain of respecting the memory of Henrietta Lacks and her family, while at the same time telling this story in a very intimate, meticulous, and honest manner – not an easy task. I’d point specifically to the sections dealing with Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, who clearly gained a real sense of healing, deliverance, and understanding that she had been searching for her whole life as it pertains to her mother’s unacknowledged contributions to science. Outside of the human interest portion of this book, Skloot also managed to effectively explain the complex scientific information in a way that anyone can comprehend and be interested by. The multiple stories told here weave through each other as the pages turn: the story of Henrietta; the story of the Lacks family and their history; the story of experimentation on African Americans in the 1950s; the story about science and ethics; and finally, the story of the legal battles over whether we ourselves control the science contained in our own bodies. In the end, the family declared “God chose Henrietta as an angel who would be reborn as immortal cells"…and that’s exactly where I would leave it.
Highly readable and a riveting account is one I would recommend for pretty much anyone!
*10/10*
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