What is Charlotte Jacobs reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Charlotte Jacobs, author of Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease.

Her entry begins:

As a biographer, I tend to read lots of biographies and memoirs. One of my favorites, which I am re-reading, is My Own Country by Abraham Verghese. Many of your readers are familiar with his current novel and best-seller, Cutting for Stone, an exquisite saga of the type we rarely see today. Verghese is a gifted writer and storyteller whose talents span nonfiction and fiction.

My Own Country tells the story of a newly-trained infectious disease specialist who takes a position in Johnson City, Tennessee at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. We learn about AIDS as Verghese does through his patients and their families. The author captures the voice and spirit of the people of east Tennessee as he unfolds his experiences with them. The tale is as engrossing as a novel, except these people are or were real, and that makes the book even more compelling. Woven throughout are the issues of how it feels to be a foreign physician and how...[read on]

Among the early praise for Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease:

"This is an outstanding book. The story of Kaplan and Hodgkin's Disease is, indeed, the story of the transition from descriptive science and anecdotal care to evidence, trial-based clinical care and the scientific development of treatment. Dr. Jacobs has done medical history a huge service in capturing the people and the times, using a combination of interviews and experience in the field and at Stanford that would be impossible to duplicate."
—C. Norman Coleman, National Cancer Institutes, U.S. National Institutes of Health

"This is an engaging, sensitive portrait of a man and his mission. Dr. Jacobs describes the personal life and extraordinary professional accomplishments of Dr. Kaplan, chronicles the development of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and integrated care, and relates the trials and tribulations that led to the 1970's National Cancer Act."
—Carlos Perez, Professor Emeritus, Washington University in St. Louis

Charlotte Jacobs, M.D., the Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

Learn more about Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease at the publisher's website.

Writers Read: Charlotte Jacobs.

--Marshal Zeringue