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The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

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Publisher:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Pub. Date:
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Language:
English
Accelerated Reader:
IL: UG - BL: 8 - AR Pts: 18
Lexile measure:
1140L
Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”—Entertainment Weekly
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” (LITHUB), AND “BEST” (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Entertainment Weekly • O: The Oprah Magazine • NPR • Financial Times • New York • Independent (U.K.) • Times (U.K.) • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist • Globe and Mail
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. 
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. 
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? 
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
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ISBN:
9781400052172
9781410427922
9781400052189
9780307712509
9780307712530
9780804190107
9780307589385
9781594134326
Accelerated Reader:
UG
Level 8, 18 Points
Lexile measure:
1140L
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Grouping Information

Grouped Work IDd01697dd-cba6-c4e6-eb26-cd115e7bb0c4
Grouping Titleimmortal life of henrietta lacks
Grouping Authorrebecca skloot
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2023-05-27 02:08:35AM
Last Indexed2023-05-27 02:28:45AM

Solr Fields

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display_description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The story of modern medicine and bioethics—and, indeed, race relations—is refracted beautifully, and movingly.”—Entertainment Weekly
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBO® STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE • ONE OF THE “MOST INFLUENTIAL” (CNN), “DEFINING” (LITHUB), AND “BEST” (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS • WINNER OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Entertainment Weekly • O: The Oprah Magazine • NPR • Financial Times • New York • Independent (U.K.) • Times (U.K.) • Publishers Weekly • Library Journal • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist • Globe and Mail
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. 
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. 
Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? 
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
format_catalog
Book
CD Audiobook
Large Print
eAudiobook
eBook
format_category_catalog
Audio Books
Books
eBook
id
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9780804190107
9781400052172
9781400052189
9781410427922
9781594134326
itype_catalog
Adu CD/Spoken Word
Adu Large Print
Adult Book Non-Fiction
Adult Fiction
WDP CD SPOKEN WD ADULT
last_indexed
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lexile_score
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literary_form
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literary_form_full
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local_callnumber_catalog
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CD 616.0277 S628 2010
LARGE PRINT 616.0277 S628 2010
owning_library_catalog
Sacramento Public Library
owning_location_catalog
Arcade
Carmichael
Central
Elk Grove
North Natomas
Orangevale
primary_isbn
9781400052172
publishDate
2010
publisher
Books on Tape
Crown
Crown Publishers
Random House Audio
Thorndike Press
recordtype
grouped_work
series
Thorndike Press large print nonfiction
series_with_volume
Thorndike Press large print nonfiction|
subject_facet
African American women -- History
Audiobooks
Cancer -- Patients -- Virginia -- Biography
Cancer -- Research
Cell culture
Compact discs
HeLa cells
Human experimentation in medicine -- United States -- History
Lacks, Henrietta, -- 1920-1951 -- Health
Large type books
Medical ethics
title_display
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
title_full
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks / Rebecca Skloot
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks [sound recording] / Rebecca Skloot
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks [text (large print)] / Rebecca Skloot
title_short
The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
topic_facet
African American women
Biography & Autobiography
Cancer
Cell culture
HeLa cells
Health
History
Human experimentation in medicine
Lacks, Henrietta
Medical ethics
Nonfiction
Patients
Research
Science
Sociology

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