Gretchen Krueger's poignant narrative explores how doctors, families, and the public interpreted the experience of childhood cancer from the 1930s through the 1970s. Pairing the transformation of childhood cancer from killer to curable disease with the personal experiences of young patients and their families, Krueger illuminates the twin realities of hope and suffering. In this social history, each decade follows a family whose experience touches on key themes: possible causes, means and timing of detection, the search for curative treatment, the merit of alternative treatments, the decisions to pursue or halt therapy, the side effects of treatment, death and dying-and cure. Recounting the complex and sometimes contentious interactions among the families of children with cancer, medical researchers, physicians, advocacy organizations, the media, and policy makers, Krueger reveals that personal odyssey and clinical challenge are the simultaneous realities of childhood cancer. This engaging study will be of interest to historians, medical practitioners and researchers, and people whose lives have been altered by cancer.

About the Author
Gretchen Krueger is a senior historian at Wells Fargo & Company.

Reviews
Krueger has written an important book. -- Barron Lerner Lancet 2008 Hope and Suffering is an apt title for this dense, encyclopedic, and riveting book. It includes narratives from patients and their family members that detail the hope, suffering, and despair of the first two decades of cancer therapy, followed by the optimism and successes of the present...Author Gretchen Krueger recounts these stories in considerable detail and references them exquisitely. New England Journal of Medicine 2009 It would be of value in any medical humanities course. -- Emm Barnes Medical History 2010



Book Information
ISBN 9780801888311
Author Gretchen Krueger
Format Hardback
Page Count 232
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 21mm