The Price of Experience

sub-heading:
Writings on Living with Cancer

"Both in the eloquence of his writing and the deep humanism of his vision, Mike Marqusee stands shoulder to shoulder with the spirits of Isaac Deutscher and Edward Said."

- Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz
$13.00

Adding to cart… The item has been added
  • 120 pages
  • Paperback ISBN 9781939293442
  • E-book ISBN 9781939293459
  • Publication 15 May 2014

about the book

Writer and political activist Mike Marqusee was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in the summer of 2007. At first, disinclined to share his misery with others, he was reluctant to write about his illness. But he then came to realize that doing so provided a precious continuity with his life as a writer before contracting the disease, and a way of reaching out to a wider world that the illness made physically less accessible. Writing allowed him to address what he saw as a variety of insidious platitudes that surround cancer, often connected to the individualistic idea that the sufferer must be brave in battling the disease, with the inevitable corollary that those who succumb have, in some measure, brought it on themselves.

And so Marqusee begins to write about his illness. Not just his own symptoms and feelings, but the responses of friends to the news that he is ill and the way these reflect broader social attitudes towards the sick. He describes the political struggles occurring in St Bartholomew’s, the London hospital that cares for him, and the crisis in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) more generally, at a time of harrowing cutbacks. Big Pharma, whose drugs keep Marqusee alive but are sold to the NHS at prices reflecting the power and greed of a ruthless extortionist, is the subject for particularly astringent scrutiny.

The observations about cancer in these pages are never trite or sentimental. They are acute, moving, impassioned and political. And they convey important, shared truths, both personal and social, about an illness that will affect one in three people in the course of their lives.

"Eloquently written, passionate, sad, joyous, and above all politically engaged, the book is an epiphany. It shows us how health and disease are socially made, and how disease priorities are set in societies by larger economic and political forces. And that we as people will collectively have to claim our futures... It is compulsory reading for all health workers, public health researchers and, indeed, the general public. My sister was recently diagnosed to have multiple myeloma. She will learn a lot from this book, including courage and daring." - Mohan Rao, professor of public medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

"Reading about cancer is very difficult because.... it's cancer. I don't know of anyone whose family hasn't been touched by it. This new book by Mike Marqusee - who is political and funny and righteous - is an absolute must-read." - Dave Zirin, author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down

About The Author / Editor

© 2013 Kevin Thomas Mike Marqusee is an American-born writer, journalist and political activist who has lived in Britain since 1971. He is the author of numerous books including If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew, Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the Sixties, Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties, Anyone but England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket, a novel, Slow Turn, and a collection of poetry, Street Music. He is a regular correspondent for a range of publications including The Guardian, Red Pepper and The Hindu.

Read An Excerpt

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007, I vowed to friends that I would not add to the surfeit of cancer confessionals. I had other topics to write about and surely nothing to add on this one, which was already extensively and expertly covered. It’s a promise I should have known I would not be able to keep.

Reconstructing the early phases of the illness-treatment (at the level of individual experience, it's impossible to disentangle one from the other) is difficult for me. But I do remember the day I first heard the diagnosis "cancer".

I had been feeling pains in my chest and lower back for months and feeling ever more unwell in an all-encompassing way I couldn’t explain, to myself or the doctors. The chest pains were confusing: located not in but over and around the heart. I had reached a stage where I was desperate for a diagnosis, any diagnosis (or so I thought).

When the GP phoned to ask me to come to the surgery to discuss my blood test results, I knew the news would not be good. I wasn't shocked when he explained that the test revealed a high level of something called "paraproteins" which is indicative of a malignancy. He also observed that I looked terrible and referred me to the nearby Homerton Hospital for urgent examination.

in the media

The Price of Experience

sub-heading:
Writings on Living with Cancer

"Both in the eloquence of his writing and the deep humanism of his vision, Mike Marqusee stands shoulder to shoulder with the spirits of Isaac Deutscher and Edward Said."

- Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz
$13.00

Add to Cart

Adding to cart… The item has been added

about the book

Writer and political activist Mike Marqusee was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in the summer of 2007. At first, disinclined to share his misery with others, he was reluctant to write about his illness. But he then came to realize that doing so provided a precious continuity with his life as a writer before contracting the disease, and a way of reaching out to a wider world that the illness made physically less accessible. Writing allowed him to address what he saw as a variety of insidious platitudes that surround cancer, often connected to the individualistic idea that the sufferer must be brave in battling the disease, with the inevitable corollary that those who succumb have, in some measure, brought it on themselves.

And so Marqusee begins to write about his illness. Not just his own symptoms and feelings, but the responses of friends to the news that he is ill and the way these reflect broader social attitudes towards the sick. He describes the political struggles occurring in St Bartholomew’s, the London hospital that cares for him, and the crisis in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) more generally, at a time of harrowing cutbacks. Big Pharma, whose drugs keep Marqusee alive but are sold to the NHS at prices reflecting the power and greed of a ruthless extortionist, is the subject for particularly astringent scrutiny.

The observations about cancer in these pages are never trite or sentimental. They are acute, moving, impassioned and political. And they convey important, shared truths, both personal and social, about an illness that will affect one in three people in the course of their lives.

"Eloquently written, passionate, sad, joyous, and above all politically engaged, the book is an epiphany. It shows us how health and disease are socially made, and how disease priorities are set in societies by larger economic and political forces. And that we as people will collectively have to claim our futures... It is compulsory reading for all health workers, public health researchers and, indeed, the general public. My sister was recently diagnosed to have multiple myeloma. She will learn a lot from this book, including courage and daring." - Mohan Rao, professor of public medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

"Reading about cancer is very difficult because.... it's cancer. I don't know of anyone whose family hasn't been touched by it. This new book by Mike Marqusee - who is political and funny and righteous - is an absolute must-read." - Dave Zirin, author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down

About The Author / Editor

© 2013 Kevin Thomas Mike Marqusee is an American-born writer, journalist and political activist who has lived in Britain since 1971. He is the author of numerous books including If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew, Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the Sixties, Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties, Anyone but England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket, a novel, Slow Turn, and a collection of poetry, Street Music. He is a regular correspondent for a range of publications including The Guardian, Red Pepper and The Hindu.

Read An Excerpt

When I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2007, I vowed to friends that I would not add to the surfeit of cancer confessionals. I had other topics to write about and surely nothing to add on this one, which was already extensively and expertly covered. It’s a promise I should have known I would not be able to keep.

Reconstructing the early phases of the illness-treatment (at the level of individual experience, it's impossible to disentangle one from the other) is difficult for me. But I do remember the day I first heard the diagnosis "cancer".

I had been feeling pains in my chest and lower back for months and feeling ever more unwell in an all-encompassing way I couldn’t explain, to myself or the doctors. The chest pains were confusing: located not in but over and around the heart. I had reached a stage where I was desperate for a diagnosis, any diagnosis (or so I thought).

When the GP phoned to ask me to come to the surgery to discuss my blood test results, I knew the news would not be good. I wasn't shocked when he explained that the test revealed a high level of something called "paraproteins" which is indicative of a malignancy. He also observed that I looked terrible and referred me to the nearby Homerton Hospital for urgent examination.

in the media