By Barron H. Lerner. 383 pp., illustrated. New York, Oxford University Press, 2001. $30. ISBN 0-19-514261-6.
For most of the 20th century, the rate of death from breastcancer in the United States has remained stable, with a moderatedecline occurring only in the past few years. In The BreastCancer Wars, Barron Lerner, a physician and historian of medicine,analyzes the history of attempts to improve these frustratingstatistics through early diagnosis and aggressive treatment.Lerner's central thesis is that emerging expertise in surgeryintersected with several factors — scientific understandingof the biology of breast cancer, increasingly sophisticatedtechniques, and deeply held cultural beliefs about risk, women'sbodies, and individual responsibility for health — . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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