The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an emotionally tough book for me to read at first because as a black woman, it was hard for me to be reminded of the devastation of the black soul due to blatant racism. However, toward the middle of the book, I cheered when people started fighting back at a racist exploitive scientific system that made millions off the cells of a black woman while her offsprings gagged in poverty. In the end, even though the first generation of Henrietta Lack's offsprings did not reap the economic benefits of the scientific commercialization of Mrs. Lack's cells, her second generation relatives' pursuit of education will compensate somewhat for that.
I am glad Rebecca Sloot invested so much capital in doing such thorough research to find the true identity of and give the proper credit and recognition to the life and amazing scientific contribution of a black woman whose cells have transformed the world.
Bravo!
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