Synopses & Reviews
From the National Book Award finalist and author of
When Smoke Ran Like Water, a searing, haunting and deeply personal account of the War on Cancer.
The War on Cancer set out to find, treat, and cure a disease. Left untouched were many of the things known to cause cancer, including tobacco, the workplace, radiation, or the global environment. Proof of how the world in which we live and work affects whether we get cancer was either overlooked or suppressed.
This has been no accident.
The War on Cancer was run by leaders of industries that made cancer-causing products, and sometimes also profited from drugs and technologies for finding and treating the disease. Filled with compelling personalities and never-before-revealed information, The Secret History of the War on Cancer shows how we began fighting the wrong war, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies a legacy that persists to this day.
This is the gripping story of a major public health effort diverted and distorted for private gain.
A portion of the profits from this book will go to support research on cancer prevention.
Review
"[G]rim but fascinating reading....Davis proposes a kind of truth-and-reconciliation approach to get industry and public-health experts mutually involved. But she notes that, unfortunately, it's simply not happening fast enough....One can hope, however, that Davis's book will assure that proper attention is paid." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins....Davis presents a powerful call to action; recommended." Library Journal
Review
"[T]here is not much that is secret about this 'secret history.' Nor is Davis's book even a history, in the sense of conveying a systematic, coherent narrative of events related to the fight against cancer over time. While the overall organizational structure of the book is unclear, it certainly is not a chronological record of events related to battling cancer. Neither is it a critical examination of the origins of President Nixon's 'War on Cancer' and its subsequent evolution; nor does it track how thinking about the causes, the treatment, or the prevention of distinct cancers has evolved over time. In fact, it is unclear what exactly Davis is up to, other than trying to stoke unfocused fear about the oncological consequences of the environment." Ezekiel J. Emanuel, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)
Synopsis
From the National Book Award finalist, author of When Smoke Ran Like Water, a searing, haunting and deeply personal account of the War on Cancer
About the Author
Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. She was appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in 1994 and also served as Scholar in Residence at the National Academy of Science. She lives in Pittsburgh.