After her death in 1951, for six decades, Henrietta Lacks did not exist in the eyes of society, but her cells did. How? Well, the answer is quite simple. HeLa cells are the first immortal human cells. These cells never die and multiply every twenty-four hours. After spending 10 years perfecting her first book, author The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot has essentially captured the life, death, and aftermath of Henrietta Lacks' life. With controversial questions surrounding science, ethics, race and class, Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey. From the "colored" ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to the bright white labs with freezers full of HeLa cells, from Henrietta's small hometown of Clover, Virginia, to East Baltimore, where her children and grandchildren live on and struggle with the legacy of her cells, Skloot remarkably shows that the Lacks family story is inextricably linked to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans as well as the question of bioethics and the legal battles over whether we control what we are made of. The most intriguing aspect of this story is how HeLa cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, uncover the secrets of cancer, viruses and the effects of the atomic bomb, and contribute to significant advances in vitro fertilization, cloning, and genetic mapping, and yet her five children are not even covered by medical insurance. Can't the family sue for profit? This question has been asked many times and in various forms, but the answer remains controversial. As Skloot explains in his book, many lawyers point out that the family "cannot sue over the taking of cells...[but] they could try to stop research on HeLa through legislation... … middle of paper….. May 2010.Moreno, Jonathan D. “Lessons learned from half a century of human experimentation.” L’Humaniste September 1999: 9. Questia. Internet. May 31, 2010. "Nazi neighbor; Nathan Gasch moved to the United States to escape his memories of the Holocaust, but six decades later he discovered that the man next door was an SS guard in the camp where he had been a prisoner." The Mirror (London, England) October 6, 2007: 31. Questia. Internet. May 31, 2010. "South Florida Hospital Called 'Most Dangerous' - Health News Story - WPLG Miami." Just News |Miami News, Fort Lauderdale News, Florida News, Weather | WPLG Local 10. Local 10News, September 14, 2009. Web. May 27, 2010. Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Crown, 2010. Print. Williams, Patricia J. “State of Denial.” The Nation October 13, 2003: 10. Questia. Internet. May 31 2010.