Mukherjee investigates cancer in The Emperor of All Maladies with the accuracy of a cellular biologist, the perspective of a historian, and the fervour of a biographer. The end product is a startlingly clear and powerful account of a sickness that people have been dealing with for more than 5,000 years and dying from. The tale of cancer is one of human creativity, resiliency, and perseverance as well as hubris, arrogance, and misperception, all of which were applied to a disease that, only three decades ago, was believed to be amenable to easy eradication in an all-out "war against cancer." Mukherjee describes decades' worth of discoveries, failures, triumphs, and deaths as seen through the eyes of forebears and contemporaries who were honing their wits against an endlessly clever foe.