Awards

• Commended for L.A. Times Book Prize (Science/Technology) 2010
• Runner-up for Discover Great New Writers (Nonfiction) 2010
• Winner of 2010 Indie Lit Award for NonFiction 2010
• Winner of ALA Notable Books (Nonfiction) 2011
• Winner of Ambassador Book Award in American Studies 2011
• Winner of Ambassador Book Awards (Biography/Autobiography) 2011

Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”—Entertainment Weekly NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” (LITHUB), AND “BEST” (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, Financial Times, New York, Independent (U.K.), Times (U.K.), Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Globe and Mail Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.

Full Product Details

9781400052172

Table of Contents

Reviews

One of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time...'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'...floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of 'Erin Brockovich, ' 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' and 'The Andromeda Strain.'...it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write. It signals the arrival of a raw but quite real talent. --Dwight Garner, @lt;i@gt;The New York Times@lt;/i@gt;@lt;br@gt;@lt;br@gt; Skloot's vivid account begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, who comes fully alive on the page...'Immortal Life' reads like a novel. --Eric Roston, @lt;i@gt;The Washington Post@lt;br@gt;@lt;br@gt;@lt;/i@gt; Gripping...by turns heartbreaking, funny and unsettling...raises troubling questions about the way Mrs. Lacks and her family were treated by researchers and about whether patients should control or have financial claims on tissue removed from their bodies. --Denis

One of the most graceful and moving nonfiction books I've read in a very long time...'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'...floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of 'Erin Brockovich, ' 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' and 'The Andromeda Strain.'...it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write. It signals the arrival of a raw but quite real talent. --Dwight Garner, The New York Times <br> Skloot's vivid account begins with the life of Henrietta Lacks, who comes fully alive on the page...'Immortal Life' reads like a novel. --Eric Roston, The Washington Post <br> Gripping...by turns heartbreaking, funny and unsettling...raises troubling questions about the way Mrs. Lacks and her family were treated by researchers and about whether patients should control or have financial claims on tissue removed from their bodies. --Denise Grady, New York Times <br> The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'' is a fascinating read and a ringing success. It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America. Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go. --Douglas Whynott, The Boston Globe<br> <br> Riveting...raises important questions about medical ethics...It's an amazing story...Deeply chilling... Whether those uncountable HeLa cells are a miracle or a violation, Skloot tells their fascinating story at last with skill, insight and compassion --Colette Bancroft, St. Petersburg Times<br> <br> The history of HeLa is a rare and powerful combination of race, class, gender, medicine, bioethics, and intellectual property; far more rare is the writer than can so clearly fuse those disparate threads into a personal story so rich and compelling. Rebecca Skloot has crafted a unique piece of science journalism that is impossible to put down--or to for

Author Information

Rebecca Skloot is an award-winning science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine; O, The Oprah Magazine; Discover; and many others. She is coeditor of The Best American Science Writing 2011 and has worked as a correspondent for NPR’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW. She was named one of five surprising leaders of 2010 by the Washington Post. Skloot's debut book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, took more than a decade to research and write, and instantly became a New York Times bestseller. It was chosen as a best book of 2010 by more than sixty media outlets, including Entertainment Weekly, People, and the New York Times. It is being translated into more than twenty-five languages, adapted into a young reader edition, and being made into an HBO film produced by Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball. Skloot is the founder and president of The Henrietta Lacks Foundation. She has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction. She has taught creative writing and science journalism at the University of Memphis, the University of Pittsburgh, and New York University. She lives in Chicago. 

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available