Montrose Book Club

The Immortal Life of Henerietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Join our monthly book club for an engaging discussion of our latest selection The Immortal Life of Henerietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

New members are always welcome. 12 Copies of The Immortal Life of Henerietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot will be available for check out from the Montrose Library service desk one month prior to the book club meeting date. Please stop by the Montrose Library, email montroselibrary@glendaleca.gov, or call 818-548-2048 to reserve one of the 12 copies. If we run out of copies, you'd like to pick up a copy at another branch, or you prefer a different book format, you may request a copy here https://glac.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S185C1876639. 

Book Description:

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. 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 “immortal” human cells grown in culture, which are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. 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.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. 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 couldn’t her children afford health insurance?

Parking Information: Library parking is available onsite. Parking entrance is behind the Fire Station and Library buildings on Sunset Ave. Visitors receive 3-hour free parking and 15 minutes drop off parking is available in front of the Library. Accessible parking and wheelchair ramp is available in the parking lot. For additional information about this event, please contact Montrose Library at 818-548-2048 or send us an email at LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov.

We welcome persons with disabilities to participate in all our programs and events. For accommodations requests, please email LibraryInfo@GlendaleCA.gov .

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