Washington Post “…Davis put it together in a way that illuminates the underbelly of medical research."
O magazine
"In her devastating, 20-years-in-the-making expose...Devra Davis... shows how cancer researchers, bankrolled by petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies, among others, collude in 'the science of doubt promotion.'...Davis diagnoses two of the most lethal diseases of modern society: secrecy and self-interest. This book is a dramatic plea for a cure."
Discover
“Davis’s new book, THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR ON CANCER, is a wake-up call for all those who have accepted the poisons of our age of plenty without a blink.”
Lancet Oncology
“A feisty and highly accessible writer, Davis lays her cards on the table…a rattling good read and raises vital issues that remain relevant today.”
Booklist starred review
“…several big ACS [American Cancer Society] contributors, are heavily invested in keeping the public from becoming fully informed of the risks of myriad chemicals to which we and our children are exposed…Money, it seems, trumps all. Treatment and cures are hefty profit generators, and it’s expensive to change or eliminate the use of potentially toxic chemicals…Kudos to Davis for stepping up to the plate.”
The Times (Higher Education Supplement)
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer reflects the complex interaction of science, politics and society in the 20th century. I am left wondering how it will change in the 21st.”
Toronto Globe & Mail
“…easily the most important science book of the year…Each and every chapter in this book offers an uncomfortable revelation.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Davis is excellent at following the money and fearless about naming names…With this work, Devra Davis has permanently reframed the ‘war.’ It should be required reading for those with cancer histories in their families. In other words, just about all of us.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer / Best 20 Books of 2007
“This searing book from a University of Pittsburgh epidemiologist lays out 35 years of medical greed and cowardice that left millions of Americans vulnerable to environmental and occupational cancer deaths. Countless political books attempt to influence the electorate, but this one stands out from the pack, demonstrating why money changes everything.”
New York Law Journal
“…compelling and well-written text moves from past to present to assess scores of contemporary workplace and lifestyle hazards, from cell phones to household cleansers to diet soft drinks, and makes clear that the law has been useless in protecting our health.”
New York Review of Books
“Joining this increasingly fractious debate with devastating force, Devra Davis, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, claims that the war “has been fighting many of the wrong battles with the wrong weapons and the wrong leaders.” She calculates that these “fundamental misdirections” have thrown away well over a million American lives. Her aim in The Secret History of the War on Cancer is to deliver nothing less than a “reckoning” of this terrible toll.”
Library Journal
“…Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins…a powerful call to action.”
Kirkus Reviews
“…a detailed history of workplace and environmental carcinogens that predates Nixon's "war" on cancer in the '70s. … fascinating reading as Davis reviews the tobacco story and describes conditions in steel mills, copper smelters, chemical factories and plastics plants, where workers are exposed to insidious and lethal solvents and agents such as asbestos, benzene, formaldehyde and dioxin. She also immortalizes the many poor people in small towns next to waste dumps or downstream from hugely polluted rivers who died from cancer or whose children suffered birth defects. In almost every case, the offending corporation lied, denied, delayed or bought-off complaints, recruiting the best legal talent and, sad to say, even highly respected scientists.”
LJExpress.com
“Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins… The Secret History is a powerful call to action; recommended for most libraries.”
Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown University Law Center, and author of Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing
“Devra Davis has written a brave and brilliant book. It is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered why we’ve spent so much more effort treating cancer than preventing it.”
David O. Carpenter, M.D., Director, Institute for Health and the Environment, State University of New York at Albany
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer should be read by everyone who believes that our governments have done an effective job of promoting our health.”
David Servan-Schreiber, author of The Instinct to Heal
“Devra Lee Davis writes with clarity, passion and unassailable precision. This book is fascinating blend of history, science, politics and medicine that reads like a novel.”
Lorenzo Tomatis, MD, Former Director, International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization
“With the mastery of a great writer Devra Davis takes the reader inside the successes, the failures, and the ambiguity of research on cancer.”
Teresa Heinz Kerry, co-author of This Moment on Earth
"A breathtaking, impeccably documented wake-up call for what we should have done and what we must do!”
Mitchell Gaynor, MD, President, Gaynor Integrative Oncology
“The Secret History of the War on Cancer is a masterful combination of scientific insights and investigative journalism. If you want to know why one in three Americans develops cancer, read this book.”
Nature
“A well-documented, prosecutorial account of the dark side of cancer-control politics…merits attention.”
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