The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads Choice Awards – Nonfiction | 2010 | Winner |
About This Book
The story of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and became the HeLa cell line—the first human cells to survive and multiply in a laboratory. Her cells contributed to the polio vaccine, cancer research, and countless other advances while her family lived in poverty, unaware of her scientific immortality. A landmark work of science narrative nonfiction addressing race, medical ethics, and bodily autonomy.
About the Author
Rebecca Skloot is an American science writer and journalist whose debut book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) became one of the most celebrated works of science narrative nonfiction of the twenty-first century. The book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman from Baltimore whose cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 and became the first human cells successfully grown in a laboratory—cells now known as the HeLa cell line, used in the development of the polio vaccine, cancer research, and countless other scientific advances. Skloot spent more than a decade reporting and writing the book, which interweaves the science of cell biology with the history of medical ethics, race, and poverty in America. Read more →
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