Manmade Breast Cancers

Eisenstein's personal narrative of the breast cancer in her life is honest and compelling, and her theoretical analysis of the factors involved in breast cancer is provacative. "Manmade Breast Cancers" opend my eyes and gave me a thorough education in both the biology and the genetics of breast cancer, and the role of the pharmacutical-medical-industrial complex in establishing dominant thought patterns about the disease. Eisenstein proposes that we look beyond the dominant discourse to the myriad social, political, economic, and cultural aspects of the breast cancer experience. As I read "Manmade Breast Cancers," I found myself simultaneously addicted to the author's personal story, and also thrown off by the disjointed addition of the feminist theorizing embedded within it. It was as if each alone would have worked, but together they did not always read smoothly. This could be for two reasons: one, the because writer is more experienced with theorizing, and two becasue the topic of her narrative is so intimate and emotional that the reader has to switch gears to read the theory. However, while the combination of personal story and scholarly theory is stylistically a bit akward, their coexistance make the author's point, and draw the reader into the thesis of the book in more ways than one. ( As I got used to it, I kind of liked it!)Eisenstein's discussion of the body brought me to a different awareness of my own body, and her candid look at her emotions is admirable and unique. I highly recommend this book to increase our awarness of the many factors involved in any disease.

I just had the privalege of seeing Dr. Eisenstein lecture at an annual women's symposium at my college. Her theories about the politics of breast cancer are truly profound and present a new way of looking at a disease which affects the lives of so many women. Every woman should read this book, this is serious subject that cannot be ignored.