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Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Science, and One Family Tree
by Lizzie Stark
Would you cut out your healthy breasts and ovaries if you thought it might save your life? That's not a theoretical question for journalist Lizzie Stark's relatives, who grapple with the horrific legacy of cancer built into the family DNA, a BRCA mutation that has robbed most of her female relatives of breasts, ovaries, peace of mind, or life itself.
In Pandora's DNA, Stark uses her family's experience to frame a larger story about the so-called breast cancer genes, exploring the morass of legal quandaries, scientific developments, medical breakthroughs, and ethical concerns that surround the BRCA mutations, from the troubling history of prophylactic surgery and the storied origins of the boob job to the landmark lawsuit against Myriad Genetics, which held patents on the BRCA genes every human carries in their body until the Supreme Court overturned them in 2013. Although a genetic test for cancer risk may sound like the height of scientific development, the treatment remains crude and barbaric.
Through her own experience, Stark shows what it's like to live in a brave new world where gazing into a crystal ball of genetics has many unintended consequences.
"Starred Review. With her remarkable memoir, Stark gives us medical history and personal testament that intelligently balances hard-edged science with boundless hope." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. With incisive wit and a reporter's poke at the jugular, Stark delivers the goods on this disease that though now much discussed still creates anguish in most of us. For every collection." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. A gutsy, deeply revealing account that more than fulfills the promise of the subtitle." - Kirkus
This information about Pandora's DNA was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lizzie Stark is the author of Leaving Mundania and a freelance journalist who has written for io9.com, The Today Show website, Psychology Today, The Daily Beast and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She holds an M.S. in New Media Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She founded and edited the literary journal Fringe.
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