The story of cancer is a human one - a tale of chance discoveries, seized opportunities and human endurance. From innovative but brutal early surgical treatments to the Curies' ultimately tragic work with radiation; from Sidney Farber's hugely risky discovery of chemotherapy to the author's treatment of his own patients, this riveting book recounts a centuries-long conflict.

Now, as cancer becomes an ever more universal experience, the need to understand it, and its treatment, has never been more compelling. In this groundbreaking account Siddhartha Mukherjee, bestselling author of The Gene, reveals how far we have come in solving one of science's great mysteries and offers a facinating glimpse of our future progress.

(back cover)