A book with phrases like "Cancer Activism" and "Public Policy" in the title might not catch a reader's eye, but this book truly is captivating and, believe it or not, hard to put down -- only to soon return for more.

The premise of the book contrasts support for breast cancer and prostate cancer: research dollars, community activism, fundraising, media attention, and even postage-stamp sales. One might expect these two illnesses would fare similarly given their propensity to be hormone-sensitive cancers. Breast cancer and prostate cancer are essentially separated by a gender divide. (Yes, I know men can get breast cancer, but the incidence is low.) U.S. society, however, handles these two types of cancer quite differently. I had often wondered why this would be because on one hand, we have pink, pink, pink everywhere to support breast cancer. That's a disease (mostly) women get. Prostate cancer? That's reserved for men. But there's no color people know to wear to draw attention to prostate cancer, and "watch and wait" isn't an inspirational slogan.

One issue I would have liked to have seen in the book is that although breast cancer is the most common cancer site in U.S. women, breast cancer is NOT the leading cause of cancer death among women. By far, women are much more likely to die of lung cancer than breast cancer. The difference between breast cancer (prostate cancer too) and lung cancer as a cause of mortality is staggering, yet lung cancer doesn't get much consumer attention compared to the vibe behind the breast-cancer-support movement. ( )