Book Review - Bathsheba's Breast: Women, Cancer & History

A secret hidden in a famous painting by a Baroque artist, a woman who is loved by an important man; life, love, death and mystery. It’s not the DaVinci Code, it's a book about the history of breast cancer treatment. In Bathsheba’s Breast: Women, Cancer & History, author James S. Olson starts with the ancient world and takes the reader up to 2002, giving a picture of changes in healthcare, culture, science, politics, and economy as they relate to the treatment of breast cancer.

The book gets its title from Bathsheba at Her Bath a painting by Rembrandt of a Biblical figure, the wife of King David and mother of King Solomon. Painted in 1654, Bathsheba was hanging in the Rijksmuseum when a surgeon stopped to study it. He noticed differences in the breasts of the model, one being swollen, with an orange peel texture, a signal that breast cancer might be present. The model, Rembrandt's mistress, died after "a long illness." As Olson's book explains, the surgeon's diagnosis was confirmed.

The ancient world knew breast cancer as the cancer. Because breast cancer was visible, every woman knew and feared this enemy. This historic fear started with the Egyptians of the New Kingdom, where no cure was known. Primitive surgery to remove lumps was done, and incisions were cauterized to close the wound. With first-hand accounts from women who endured the ordeal, Olson, a Distinguished History Professor at Sam Houston State University who lost a hand and forearm to cancer, draws us into the emotional turbulence that still comes with a diagnosis of breast cancer.

He explains the era of pioneering surgeon Halstead and his “en bloc” mastectomy, and shows us how the event of anesthesia and antisepsis resulted in more extensive surgeries. He gives us stories of celebrities and everyday women who fought and died from the disease as well as the treatment. Olson deftly interweaves the social, cultural, religious, and economic changes that affected treatment. So many women have paved the way for more progress and Olson puts them all into perspective for us, and lets us see into their own struggles.