Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family - especially HenriettaвЂ™s daughter Deborah. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family - past and present - is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. HenriettaвЂ™s family did not learn of her вЂњimmortalityвЂќ until more than 20 years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bombвЂ™s effects helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping and have been bought and sold by the billions. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells - taken without her knowledge - became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first вЂњimmortalвЂќ human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than 60 years. Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, O: The Oprah Magazine, NPR, F inancial Times, New York, Independent (UK), Times (UK), Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Globe, and Mail. One of essenceвЂ™s 50 most impactful Black books of the past 50 years. One of the вЂњmost influentialвЂќ ( CNN), вЂњdefiningвЂќ ( Lit Hub), and вЂњbestвЂќ ( The Philadelphia Inquirer) books of the decade. Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down,В The Immortal Life of Henrietta LacksВ captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.Now a major motion picture from HBOВ® starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne. Deborah was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Had they killed her to harvest her cells? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldnвЂ™t her children afford health insurance? Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family-especially HenriettaвЂ™s daughter Deborah. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family-past and present-is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. HenriettaвЂ™s family did not learn of her вЂњimmortalityвЂќ until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent.

She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells-taken without her knowledge-became one of the most important tools in medicine: The first вЂњimmortalвЂќ human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYВ The New York Times Book Review

WINNER OF THEВ CHICAGO TRIBUNEВ HEARTLAND PRIZE FOR NONFICTION.

ONE OFВ ESSENCEвЂ™S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS.ONE OF THE вЂњMOST INFLUENTIALвЂќ (CNN), вЂњDEFININGвЂќ (LITHUB), AND вЂњBESTвЂќ (THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER) BOOKS OF THE DECADE.

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM HBOВ®В STARRING OPRAH WINFREY AND ROSE BYRNE

вЂњThe story of modern medicine and bioethics-and, indeed, race relations-is refracted beautifully, and movingly.вЂќ-Entertainment Weekly.

Immortal life of henrietta lacks audio