She is a reasoned intelligence with a sense of humor.” -Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge and When Women Were Birds At a time when all things female seem to frighten those in power, Florence Williams offers an intelligent antidote. “BREASTS is a smart, witty natural history of feminism by way of the body and health. I couldn’t put it down.” -Bruce Lourie, co-author, Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things This is a truly outstanding book! Written with humor and humanity, it is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the fascinating intersections between personal health, toxic chemicals, western culture and the medical profession. “I certainly didn’t think I could appreciate breasts more than I already did. “A wonderful and entertaining tour through the evolution, biology and cultural aspects of the organ that defines us as mammals!” -Susan Love, MD, author of Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book

The true story of breasts, revealed at last!” -Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D., author, Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment and Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children in an Age of Environmental Crisis Thank you, Florence Williams, for all the delightful–and possibly life-saving–knowledge these pages contain. But I never laughed so hard while learning so much. “As a mammalogist and a nursing mother, I thought I knew everything there was to know about breasts and their exquisite communion with the ecological world. Williams is an author to savor and look forward to.” -Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Packing for Mars Breasts is illuminating, surprising, clever, important.

“Florence Williams’s double-D talents as a reporter and writer lift this book high above the genre and separate it from the ranks of ordinary science writing. Williams weaves together research on nutrition, cancer, psychology, and even structural engineering to create a fascinating portrait of the breast: that singular gland that gave us, as mammals, our very name.” -Carl Zimmer, author of Parasite Rex and Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea For here is a wonderful history, stretching across hundreds of millions of years, of an astonishingly complex part of the human body. “Be brave, buy this book, and withstand the giggles and sniggers of your friends. “Akin to Rachel Carson’s 1962 classic Silent Spring…” -New York Times Book Review ‘Williams puts hard data and personal history together with humor, creating an evenhanded cautionary tale that will both amuse and appall.” -Publisher’s Weekly “In her exceptional history, science journalist Williams does more to enlighten us on the virtues of, workings of, and perils to women’s breasts than anyone ever has before…And she does it with smarts, sass, and intent….remarkably informative and compelling.” -Booklist (starred)

Breasts by Florence Williams