The history of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center vividly reveals how
cancer treatment in America--and our attitudes toward the disease--has
changed since the middle of the twentieth century.
One of the preeminent cancer centers in the world, M. D. Anderson is
also one of the first medical institutions devoted exclusively to caring
for people with cancer and researching treatments and cures for the
disease. Historian James S. Olson's narrative relates the story of the
center's founding and of the surgeons, radiologists, radiotherapists,
nurses, medical oncologists, scientists, administrators, and patients
who built M. D. Anderson into the world-class institution it is today.
Through interviews with M. D. Anderson's leaders and patients, Olson
brings to life the struggle to understand and treat cancer in America. A
cancer survivor who has himself been treated at the center, Olson imbues
this history with humor, passion, and humanity.