To Dance with the Devil: The New War on Breast Cancer; Politics, Power, People

by Karen Stabiner

Based on three years of in-depth research and scores of firsthand interviews with the nation's most innovative doctors, scientists, policymakers, and activists, To Dance with the Devil combines medical detective story with political journalism in an unprecedented behind-the-scenes account of the new war against breast cancer.

Interweaving the latest scientific findings and public policy with the gripping human stories of clinicians and patients grappling with the disease firsthand, Karen Stabiner chronicles a year at the groundbreaking UCLA Breast Center, following the progress of Dr. Susan Love, the eminent breast surgeon and author, and a number of Love's patients. From UCLA, her narrative spirals out to examine the turbulent national scene, moving from the White House and the halls of Congress to the cutting-edge labs of leading genetic researchers, from glittering charity events to bureaucratic offices where life-and-death decisions are filtered through the unforgiving lens of cost-benefit analysis.

At once an up-to-the-minute report and a compelling contemporary drama, To Dance with the Devil is a must-read inside story of the war against one of medicine's most elusive foes. It is a book destined to change irrevocably the way we think about America's devastating breast cancer epidemic.

576 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 1997

About the author

Karen Stabiner is a journalist and author of narrative non-fiction. She has co-authored the cookbooks Family Table, a collection of staff meal recipes and backstage stories from Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants, and The Valentino Cookbook with Piero Selvaggio. Her feature articles and essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as in the Los Angeles Times, Saveur, Travel & Leisure and Gourmet. Her work has appeared in Best Food Writing anthologies. Stabiner teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Reviews

[Rachel]

My review from 1997: This book follows Dr. Susan Love through her work at the UCLA Breast Center and through in-fighting between various factions dealing with the issue. Very well-written and dramatic. Dr. Love is rather controversial, but I like everything I've read by and about her.