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2011 BGSU Firelands All-College Book Announced
June 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment
Huron, Ohio – The BGSU Firelands All-College Book Selection Committee is pleased to announce the 2011 Book and thanks everyone for the comments of support for your book selection choice. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a non-fiction account of one family’s discovery that their late mother’s cancer cells were unknowingly cultured to become an immortal cell line for medical research known as the HeLa cell line.
Sparked by curiosity during a biology lecture at her community college, Skloot later spent years researching the facts for this book while she was engaged as a journalist, popular science editor, and creative writing instructor.
The book cover declares: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of science discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.”
The resources available on this topic are innumerable, including a documentary, online teaching resources, online video clips of the author and Lacks children, and the potential for an author visit or visit from a Lacks child. More than 50 universities and high schools are known to have adopted this 2010 book for their community read. The paperback is affordable for our students and will be a moderately challenging read.
For additional details go to http://rebeccaskloot.com/the-immortal-life/
The book is available in the Firelands College bookstore for $16.
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