Controlled anger suffuses this thorough scrutiny of the state of breast cancer research, prevention, treatment, and attitudes by an activist and survivor. Altman, a journalist, is now a cancer information specialist at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She has studded her survey with attention-grabbing quotes and statistics and complacency-shattering stories. The reliability of mammograms, the possible impact of hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk, the bewildering array of surgical options— all these and more are considered here. As the title indicates, Altman's context is broadly political: She considers the role of government and manufacturers in the high cost of drugs; the well- established tendency of medical researchers to overlook women's health; the role of income and race in breast cancer incidence and survival rates. Women with specific questions will find that too often, as Altman reports, the answers simply aren't known yet. She argues persuasively that since present methods of treatment—surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, for which she adopts breast surgeon Susan Love's terms ``slash, burn, and poison''—have had little impact on the lifetime survival rates of women with breast cancer, prevention is key. She also warns women about the paternalistic attitudes and insensitivity of some male physicians and problems breast cancer survivors face with medical insurance and job discrimination (one high-level executive was told, ``You will never manage again in this company. You are emotionally and physically incapable''). An appendix includes an extensive resource list and a directory of grassroots organizations, for Altman's aim is twofold: not simply raising the awareness of women that they must take responsibility for their own bodies but persuading them to join in the growing advocacy movement to increase funding for breast cancer research. Altman warns that this book may cause ``some anxiety, discomfort, and fear.'' She's right. It's not for those seeking hope and solace.
Pub Date: April 15, 1996
ISBN: 0-316-03532-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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