Podcast: Vick Mickunas Interviews Rebecca Skloot
- April 18, 2011
Vick Mickunas interviews Rebecca Skloot about her bestselling book on science and unintended consequences, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."
[audio:http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/local-national-960270.mp3-audio-mpeg-Object2.mp3|titles=local-national-960270.mp3 (audio mpeg Object)2]
Vick Mickunas interviews Rebecca Skloot about her book “The Immortal Life
of Henrietta Lacks” (Broadway Books).
Sixty years ago a woman named Henrietta Lacks was undergoing medical
treatment in Baltimore. Henrietta was poor, black, and she was dying. Her
doctors removed some cancerous cells from one of Henrietta’s tumors. They
didn’t ask her permission to do so.
There was something amazing about Henrietta’s cells. Sixty years later her
cells, now known as HeLa cells continue to grow and they have been used in
medical research experiments all over the world. Henrietta’s family didn’t
know anything about this situation until many years later.
Rebecca Skloot first heard about Henrietta’s cells when she was in high
school. She was intrigued. She spent a decade investigating the
fascinating story of Henrietta Lacks. This book was one of the most
surprising bestsellers of 2010. Rebecca Skloot has been on book tour ever
since. The book just came out in paperback.
This interview originally aired on WYSO Public Radio in Yellow Springs,
Ohio. (www.wyso.org)
Download the podcast here
The author’s website is www.rebeccaskloot.com
BUY THE BOOK from Politics & Prose
