Mukherjee provides a reminder of the seductive nature of current thinking in medical science, which can stifle the quest for improved treatments and understanding. In each case, patients’ stories are intertwined in the narrative, revealing the identities of those who are involved in the most difficult fight in what emerges as a public war to rid humanity of cancer. Mukherjee chronicles the initial clinical application of these without aggrandizing the accomplishments or ignoring the failings of the larger-than-life figures such as Halsted, Farber, Frei, Freireich, and Kaplan. Key scientific advances in fields far removed from medicine contributed to the development of cancer surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, all of which remain major treatment modalities today. The book traces the nihilism and mysticism that were understandably pervasive in the earliest days of cancer therapy and highlights conceptual advances made by early physicians and pathologists. What has emerged from his comprehensive undertaking is a compelling story of human suffering, perseverance, ingenuity, and understanding. In The Emperor of All Maladies, oncologist and research scientist Siddhartha Mukherjee makes a bold effort to chronicle the biography of cancer. Through the centuries, cancer has struck terror in patients and challenged and perplexed the philosophers, physicians, and scientists who have sought to understand and treat it.
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