The Emperor of All MaladiesThe Emperor of All Maladies

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and the basis of a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane "biography" of cancer - from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a historian's perspective, and a biographer's passion. A lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with and perished from for more than five thousand years. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out "war against cancer." From the Persian Queen Atossa, whose Greek slave may have cut off her diseased breast, to the nineteenth-century recipients of primitive radiation and chemotherapy to Mukherjee's own leukemia patient, Carla - the people who have soldiered through fiercely demanding regimens in order to survive and to increase our understanding of this iconic disease. A fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments, and an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.