The Breast

Philip Roth's The Breast is a funny, fantastical story and a bizarre yet daring exploration of sex and subjectivity. David Kepesh wakes up one morning in the hospital, mysteriously altered. Through an endocrinopathic catastrophe of unprecedented proportions, he has been transformed into a 155-pound human female breast. Railing at the incomprehensible, he uses his intelligence to deny and resist the thing he has become. Ultimately, he must accept his fate.

Offering the most comprehensive, up-to-date information on the diagnosis and management of, and rehabilitation following, surgery for benign and malignant diseases of the breast, this surgical reference is now in a new edition available in both print and online for easy, convenient access to the absolute latest advances.

In this provocative, pioneering, and wholly engrossing cultural history, noted scholar Marilyn Yalom explores twenty-five thousand years of ideas, images, and perceptions of the female breast--in religion, psychology, politics, society, and the arts. Through the centuries, the breast has been laden with hugely powerful and contradictory meanings. There is the "good breast" of reverence and life, the breast that nourishes infants and entire communities, as depicted in ancient idols, fifteenth-century Italian Madonnas, and representations of equality in the French Revolution. Then there is the "bad breast" of Ezekiel's wanton harlots, Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, and the torpedo-breasted dominatrix, symbolizing enticement and aggression. Yalom examines these contradictions--and illuminates the implications behind them. A fascinating, astute, and richly allusive journey from Paleolithic goddesses to modern day feminists, A History of the Breast is full of insight and surprises. As Yalom says, "I intend to make you think about women's breasts as you never have before." In this, she succeeds brilliantly.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American women. Although cardiovascular-related deaths significantly outnumber breast cancer deaths, breast cancer is arguably the most feared diagnosis among American women. Great strides have been made to heighten public awareness of breast cancer, with particular emphasis on early detection with mammography. Breast radiologists regularly witness the extreme anxiety that just the thought of being diagnosed with breast cancer can cause a patient. This anxious anticipation is often heightened by a lack of knowledge about what to expect from the process of breast imaging evaluation, which is frustrating for both patient and practitioner and can negatively affect the experience. Physicians often encounter patients who have little or no understanding of the reasoning behind the examination or procedure about to be performed-sometimes even up to the day of their breast cancer surgery. Furthermore, most women who undergo breast evaluations will not be diagnosed with cancer. The incidence of breast cancer is only 125.3 per 100,000 women (or 3-6 in every 1,000 screenings), however, symptoms of benign breast abnormalities are quite common and impact many more lives. Accurately diagnosing these non-cancerous conditions can alleviate much anxiety, in addition to helping patients towards a correct treatment plan. The Breast Test Book is a straightforward guide to the process of radiologic breast evaluations. Based on the most current scientific research and best standards of clinical practice, it will help debunk myths, shed light on misinformation, and provide clear facts about what women should expect from these screenings. This improved understanding will ultimately allow patients to play more active roles in their own care and, in the event that a diagnosis is made, give them confidence in their treatment.

"Providing comprehensive, current, and reliable information on breast cancer, this book, written by an experienced oncologist, a surgeon, and a breast cancer survivor, informs and inspires readers, wherever they are in the breast cancer experience. Patient stories, essays from medical specialists, and illustrations add clarity and insight"--

Completely revised and updated, and now in full color throughout, the Fourth Edition of this definitive reference is a must for all clinicians who treat breast diseases. Leading experts summarize the current knowledge of breast diseases, including their clinical features, management, underlying biologies, and epidemiologies. In addition to complete coverage of malignant breast diseases, benign diseases are discussed in relation to subsequent breast cancer development. The book reviews all major clinical trials and summarizes the information they provide on early detection and management of breast cancer. Close attention is also given to the increasing importance of molecular biology and genetics in this field. This edition features more than thirty new contributors, fourteen new or completely rewritten chapters, and more clinically oriented chapters. A companion Website will offer the fully searchable text and an image bank. Also included with this edition is the Anatomical Chart Company's Breast Anatomy and Disorders Pocket Guide. This durable, portable folding pocket guide provides a visual and textual overview of breast anatomy, disorders, and breast self-examination. With a write-on, wipe-off laminated surface, this guide is perfect for the on-the-go practitioner to show patients, caregivers, and families.

After decades of decline during the twentieth century, breastfeeding rates began to rise again in the 1970s, a rebound that has continued to the present. While it would be easy to see this reemergence as simply part of the naturalism movement of the ’70s, Jessica Martucci reveals here that the true story is more complicated. Despite the widespread acceptance and even advocacy of formula feeding by many in the medical establishment throughout the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s, a small but vocal minority of mothers, drawing upon emerging scientific and cultural ideas about maternal instinct, infant development, and connections between the body and mind, pushed back against both hospital policies and cultural norms by breastfeeding their children. As Martucci shows, their choices helped ideologically root a “back to the breast” movement within segments of the middle-class, college-educated population as early as the 1950s. That movement—in which the personal and political were inextricably linked—effectively challenged midcentury norms of sexuality, gender, and consumption, and articulated early environmental concerns about chemical and nuclear contamination of foods, bodies, and breast milk. In its groundbreaking chronicle of the breastfeeding movement, Back to the Breast provides a welcome and vital account of what it has meant, and what it means today, to breastfeed in modern America.