Radical

The Science, Culture, and History of Breast Cancer in America

By: Kate Pickert

Narrated by: Kate Pickert

The science, culture, and history of breast cancer as told by a reporter who survived it

As a health-care journalist, Kate Pickert knew the emotional highs and lows of medical treatment well - but always from a distance, through the stories of her subjects. That is, until she was unexpectedly diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer at the age of 35. As she underwent more than a year of treatment, Pickert realized that the popular understanding of breast care in America bears little resemblance to the experiences of today's patients and the rapidly changing science designed to save their lives. After using her journalistic skills to navigate her own care, Pickert embarked on a quest to understand the cultural, scientific, and historical forces shaping the lives of breast-cancer patients in the modern age.

Breast cancer is one of history's most prolific killers. Despite billions spent on research and treatments, it remains one of the deadliest diseases facing women today. From the forests of the Pacific Northwest to an operating suite in Los Angeles to the epicenter of pink-ribbon advocacy in Dallas, Pickert reports on the turning points and people responsible for the progress that has been made against breast cancer and documents the challenges of defeating a disease that strikes one in eight American women and has helped shape the country's medical culture.

Drawing on interviews with doctors, economists, researchers, advocates, and patients, as well as on journal entries and recordings collected over the author's treatment, Radical puts the story of breast cancer into context, and shows how modern treatments represent a long overdue shift in the way doctors approach cancer - and disease - itself.

©2019 Kate Pickert (P)2019 Little, Brown Spark

Critic reviews

"On the surgeons, cancer researchers, and activists working on the front lines of this complicated and often politically fraught disease, Pickert writes bravely, with equal parts heart and heft, and pitch-perfect detail." (Beth Macy, author of Dopesick)

"A compassionate, lucid, and well-researched account of historic and ongoing attempts to combat breast cancer." (Publishers Weekly)

"Kate Pickert does a great job of using her own story to bring the people and history of breast cancer treatment and advocacy to a modern audience." (Susan M. Love, MD, author of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book)

"An exhaustive, unflinching, deeply personal report." (Kim Hubbard, People)

Wonderful! Scientific, historic & personal.

Loved it. Sweeping historical overviews, personal stories, and the most recent scientific perspectives. Read by the author.

Helpful and Honest

I am in the throes of fighting breast cancer at age 40. My oncologist recommended this book to me. It was educational, validating, relatable, surprising, motivating and sometimes frightening. Thank you Kate Pickert for having the courage to add a second journey to your already difficult and unfair breast cancer journey so that those facing the same misfortune could gain strength, knowledge and resilience.

Highly recommended

Cancer is, for many people, an extremely intimidating topic. You'd be hard pressed to find a person whose life has not been touched by it in one way or another. And yet, despite its ubiquity, we rarely talk about it in a frank, rational manner. As the author notes, there is so much emotion and fear tied to the disease that we don't actually learn anywhere near as much about it as we should. Breast cancer may be the clearest example of this phenomenon. And, as she proves in each chapter, we do ourselves, our loved ones, and the rest of the population a disservice by simplifying the illness into a big, pink monolith.

As a journalist specializing in health care topics, Ms. Pickert was no stranger to the complexities of the American medical system. And yet, as a young woman staring down a breast cancer diagnosis, she found herself in the same frightening position as any other patient. Fortunately for readers, she applied her research and analytic skills to the disease that interrupted her life, and has provided an invaluable resource in this book.

Pickert addresses breast cancer from a great number of angles. Her research reveals a rapidly changing landscape of treatment protocols, including radiation, surgical intervention, chemotherapy, and other drug therapies, and touches on the "cultural differences" between leading oncologists with conflicting treatment preferences.

Through her own experience and those of other women, she explores options to ameliorate some of the most unpleasant parts of treatment, and encourages patients to ask questions and be active in the decision making process about their cancer treatment. Using primary written sources, she profiles the historical pitfalls in surgery, anesthesia (or lack thereof) and aftercare.

She also sheds light on the dogma and politicking that have invaded this branch of medicine. This includes a look at the original idea of a ribbon awareness campaign (launched by a single woman hand making and distributing hundreds of peach-colored ribbons, inspired by the red AIDS awareness ribbon campaign), its co-opting and morphing into the pink ribbon used by so many companies and charities.

Also explored is the debate over the diagnostics that we have grown so accustomed to, especially mammography. While emotions still run high on the subject, multiple impartial studies have called into question the efficacy of annual mammograms in women under 50, as well as its usefulness as a tool in detecting certain types of tumors in dense or very dense breast tissue. She talks to experts who are evaluating other technologies, such as abbreviated MRI and ultrasound, which may improve testing accuracy and prevent the emotional and physical trauma of unnecessary procedures.

Overall this is an excellent book that covers an enormous amount of information and encourages us all to have a more active role in understanding breast cancer. The writing is comprehensive but accessible, and I would love to read more from this author.

Fascinating history of breast cancer

Really enjoyed this book, all sorts of things I did not know. Author is a good narrator.