They would undoubtedly have died without them. Mukherjee gives as much attention to the ancient medical theories of cancer as he does to the research that led to current genetically targeted therapies such as Gleevec and Herceptin. These drugs are brought to life by his accounts of the patients they helped. While this comparison did not seem completely apt, the rest of the book is masterful. He wrote most of Emperor of All Maladies during his years in training at Massachusetts General Hospital, and he intertwines accounts of his work with patients there with his historical account of mankind’s understanding of cancer. He terms the book “a biography” of cancer, explaining that throughout his research he felt that he was chronicling a disease as an almost human presence. The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, a Rhodes scholar, is an oncologist currently at the medical school of Columbia University. For these reasons and more, the book won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for 2011. It is very well written and - astoundingly - makes cellular biology a fascinating read.
Similarly, for those affected by cancer who would like to better understand the use and history of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical treatments for cancer, there is no better resource. The recent history of cancer and its treatment, The Emperor of All Maladies, is an excellent read for several audiences. Those interested in the history of medicine will not find a more compelling treatment of oncology’s development over the past hundred years.
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