Chapters in the book look at the history of breast cancer and how the disease has been framed to benefit the practice of medicine, not women. Other chapters consider the economics of breast cancer-the profits made from a breast cancer marketplace where women are sought-after consumers, not patients.

Accounts of real women's breast cancer experiences show that society's influences often prevent women from being able to act in their own best interests. And, the disease as a political issue is seen in the contributions on how breast cancer policy is made, the research controversies, and the long-ignored environmental link.

In a final chapter, the editors demonstrate that we can eliminate breast cancer from our future. They map a path that includes making prevention a goal, how to end breast cancer profit making, increasing the influence of grassroots advocacy, changing the social messages women receive, and redesigning the science and delivery of health care for women.

October 2000 • 320 pp.
ISBN 0-312-21710-2 • $27.95 hardcover

"Kasper and Ferguson bring under one cover the most comprehensive overview of the subject."

-Judy Norsigian and Jane Pincus, Co-authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves

"This is a must reading for activists, consumers, and health care providers. It is instructive for all of us!"

Byllye Avery,
Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project

"Kasper and Ferguson develop a powerful roadmap, true in its course for women, in finding the causes of breast cancer and eliminating them."

-Kelley L. Phillips, M.D.,
M.P.H., President of the American College of Women's Health Physicians