The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The Top Common Reading Book of 2011 is now the Winner of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine’s 2011 Communication Award for Best Book

The National Academies of Science has just awarded its 2011 Best Book Award to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, calling it, “A compelling and graceful use of narrative that illuminates the human and ethical issues of scientific research and medical advances.” Click here for more information from the National Academies of Science.

Other awards include the 2010 Heartland Prize  (  http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-11-14/entertainment/ct-live-1115-humanities-wilson-skloot20101114_1_wilson-science-geek); the Wellcome Trust’s 2010 Wellcome Trust Book Prize (http://tinyurl.com/3ry8y2h), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s 2010 Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

In 1951, an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks, stricken with cervical cancer, became an involuntary donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were propagated by scientist George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These cells are now known worldwide as HeLa. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot brilliantly weaves together the Lacks’s story–past and present–with the story of the birth of bioethics, the story of HeLa cells, and the dark history of experimentation on African Americans. Important, powerful, and compassionate, this is a remarkable work of science and social journalism. 

Since its publication in February 2010, this amazing book has been already been selected for more than 100 Common Reading programs and courses, including:

Adelphi University; Albion College; Austin College; Bard College; Baton Rouge’s ‘One Book One Community’ read; Belmont University; Boise State Campus Reads; Case Western Reserve University ; Cleveland State University Ohio; Coastal Carolina University; College of St. Scholastica; Community College of Baltimore County; Connecticut College; Cox College ; Daniel Boone Regional Library; Dayton Big Read; Delaware County Community College; Delaware Valley College; Detroit Public Library; Elizabethtown College; Emmanuel College; Fairmont State University ; Florida State University; Florida Atlantic University Honors College; Framingham State University; Gallaudet University; George Washington University; Grand Valley State University; Green River Community College; Hamilton College; Hanover College; Henderson State University; Honors College at University of Arizona ; Johns Hopkins University; Keene State College; Loyola Marymount University (English Dept.); Marian University; Marietta College; Metropolitan State College of Denver; Mills College; Missouri State University; Moraine Valley Community College; Morehouse School of Medicine; Morgan State University; Mountain View College; North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University; North Carolina State University; Northwestern University ; Northwestern (Bookpal for Northwestern); Norwich University; Paine College; Penn State Brandywine ; Philadelphia University; Purdue University; Purdue University; Randolph-Macon Academy; Rollins College; Roosevelt University; Saint Francis University; San Diego State University; San Jose State University; Seton Hall University; Siena Heights University; Southern Methodist University; St. Bonaventure University; St. Mary’s Episcopal School ; Sweet Briar College ; Texas Christian University; Transylvania University; Tulane Freshmen Reads; University of Arkansas ; University of Alabama Birmingham; UCLA; University of California, Merced ; University of California Santa Barbara; University of Charleston; University of Delaware; University of Florida Honors Program; University of Houston Downtown; University of Kansas School of Medicine; University of Maryland; University of Mississippi; University of North Carolina at Greensboro; University Of Rhode Island; Univ. of South Carolina Upstate; University of Tennessee; University of Texas Arlington; University of Wisconsin, Madison Big Reads; Virginia Commonwealth University ; Western Michigan University; West Shore Community College. 

“Thanks to Rebecca Skloot’s remarkable book, the Lacks case is likely to become a classic in the history of biomedical ethics…Skloot is a science journalist but this book also evidences her skill as a historian…provides a profound sense of history. Students in classes covering ethics, public health, and the history of medicine, childhood, the family, women, the 1950s, and race will be engrossed by Lacks’s story. The many questions raised by the existence and use of HeLa cells will generate hours of classroom discussion.”  – Journal of the History of Medicine

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is an ideal book for classroom discussions in bioethics, history of science, and science journalism. Author Rebecca Skloot does an exceptional job of raising critical issues that should encourage both scholars and students to reevaluate the research decision making process, the way research subjects are treated, and the balance of power in this country as determined by race, economics, and even education. An incredibly readable and smart text that should be a part of countless university discussions.” — Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, and Professor of Journalism, University of Wisconsin-Madison 

Students Respond to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

“Unlike the stereotypical reading assignment that too often catalyzes students to bond over mutual dislike,” writes Connecticut College student Jesse Neikrie in the Association of American Colleges and Universities magazine, “[The Immortal Life] appealed to people with diverse interests, including literature, science, history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, medicine, and social justice.” For full article, go to: http://tinyurl.com/5uyzqvz

“If there ever was a piece of scholarship that encapsulated the interdisciplinary ideals and methods of American Studies,” writes Connecticut College student Claire Cafritz, “Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks would be it.” For full article, go to: http://tinyurl.com/6gzsjbv

Also visit the blog post by Case Western professor, Jacqueline D. Lipton, Professor; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research; Co-Director of the Center for Law Technology and the Arts; Associate Director of the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center. Click here. 

For a review in Health Affairs Journal, click here.

For Booklist’s Story Behind the Story: Rebecca Skloot’s Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, click here.

To read Rebecca Skloot’s conversation with Open Notebook’s David Dobbs on writing creative non-fiction, click here.

Author website: rebeccaskloot.com

For more information on the book or author, click here.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Click here for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Teacher’s Guide.

Click here to order an examination copy.