Book Review: <i>Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology</i> by Gregory J. Morgan

Abstract

Gregory J. Morgan, Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022. Pp. xvi + 373. $50. Hdbk. ISBN 978-1-4214-4401-7.

‘Cancer Virus Hunters’ is an impressive work of history of medical research, deeply and extensively researched. It aims to show who and how ideas about cancer-causing viruses evolved over the twentieth century. In its approach, it pays homage to the 1926 classic ‘Microbe Hunters’ by Paul de Kruif, and shares that book’s twin goals: firstly, to explain the development of medical science by pulling back the curtain on research processes and the researchers themselves, and secondly, giving due credit for discoveries and advances. ‘Cancer Virus Hunters’ gives that approach a modern twist. It acknowledges the role of luck, serendipity and chance and the unplanned directions research can go in—this is no straightforward march-of-progress tale. And it adds an exploration of the role of wider influences on research such as wartime or institutional support, and grapples with the dark side of the issue of credit: that women made significant contributions to cancer virus research but received only a fraction of the acknowledgement for them than their male peers. Show more