Florence Williams

Harvard Book Store is delighted to welcome award-winning science journalist FLORENCE WILLIAMS for a discussion of her first book, Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History.

Feted and fetishized, the breast is an evolutionary masterpiece. But in the modern world, the breast is changing. Breasts are getting bigger, arriving earlier and attracting newfangled chemicals. Increasingly, the odds are stacked against us in the struggle with breast cancer – even among men. What makes breasts so mercurial – and so vulnerable? Williams sets out to uncover the latest science from the fields of anthropology, biology, and medicine. Her investigation follows the life cycle of the breast from puberty to pregnancy to menopause, bringing her from a plastic surgeon’s office where she learns about the importance of cup size in Texas to a lab where she discovers the presence of environmental toxins in her own breast milk.

Along with being informative, Breasts is highly entertaining. Did you know that breasts are bigger than ever? That breast milk contains substances similar to cannabis? Or that it’s sold on the internet for 262 times the price of oil? Endowed with a witty and inquisitive voice, Williams explores where breasts came from, where they have ended up, and what we can do to save them.

"I certainly didn't think I could appreciate breasts more than I already did. 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 couldn't put it down." —Bruce Lourie, co-author, Slow Death by Rubber Duck: The Secret Danger of Everyday Things 

“Breasts is a smart, witty natural history of feminism by way of the body and health. At a time when all things female seem to frighten those in power, Florence Williams offers an intelligent antidote. She is more than a trustworthy writer. She is a reasoned intelligence with a sense of humor.”  —Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge and When Women Were Birds