Under the radar

"In Under the Radar, Ellen Leopold shows how nearly every aspect of our understanding and discussion of cancer bears the imprint of its Cold War entanglement, including perhaps the most visible sign of this influence, the prominence of radiation therapies in today's treatment arsenal. Current biases toward individual rather than corporate responsibility for rising incidence rates, research that promotes treatment rather than prevention, and therapies that can be patented and marketed all reflect a largely hidden history shaped by the Cold War. Even the language we have borrowed from this disease to describe social upheavals - the "cancer of communism," "metastasizing insurgencies"--Can be traced back to the middle of the twentieth century when atomic energy first appeared on the international stage."--Jacket.