Despite my uneasiness with DeVita’s take-no-prisoners strategy, I thoroughly enjoyed his book. He gives an authoritative review of the history of surgery and radiation therapy. His depictions of the behind-the-scenes search for new cancer drugs and the turf wars between radiation, surgical and medical oncologists are dishy and fascinating.
If cancer research seems too difficult for nonscientists and too dry for sustained interest, The Death of Cancer should swiftly correct that misapprehension. Written by DeVita with his daughter, science writer Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, this is a surprising and riveting story.
DeVita’s moving account of his son’s illness, as well as that of his own recent bout with prostate cancer, help soften what feels, at times, like a litany of criticism.
