Bridgewater Review

Volume 37 Issue 2 Article 13

11-2018

Book Review - The One True Universal. Barbara Ehrenreich, Natural Causes: an Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer (New York: Twelve, 2018)

Norma Anderson

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Recommended Citation Anderson, Norma (2018). Book Review - The One True Universal. Barbara Ehrenreich, Natural Causes: an Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer (New York: Twelve, 2018). Bridgewater Review, 37(2), 39-40. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol37/iss2/13

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. microphages in particular, so when she The One True Universal read an article that implicated them in assisting the growth of some cancerous Norma Anderson tumors, Ehrenreich was dismayed, to Barbara Ehrenreich, Natural Causes: an Epidemic of say the least. Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves The breast cancer Ehrenreich suffered in 2000 is one of numerous cancer to Live Longer (New York: Twelve, 2018). types that the immune system has been shown to abet, thus the cells she n the beginning of her most recent book, Natural once studied and celebrated might well Causes: an Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of have played a role in her own illness. Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer, Barbara Looking further into current and ongo- I ing research, she learned that there is Ehrenreich admits that she has made the somewhat growing awareness of “cellular decision unusual decision to forego preventative medical care. making” and that “the natural world, as we are coming to understand it, Noting that most of her similar-aged peers were pulses with something like ‘life’” (XI). deeply enmeshed in a never-ending battle against Whereas we like to believe we have getting old, including unappealing diets, exercise control over our bodies, that mindful- ness, eating habits, and medicine can regimens, and a bevy of exploratory medical tests, increase our longevity, Ehrenreich Ehrenreich writes that she had a different response to began to accept that if indeed our aging: “I gradually came to realize that I was old enough immune cells are neither all good nor all bad but in fact act in ways we can not to die,” and “decided that I was also old enough not to understand or predict, then we don’t incur any more suffering, annoyance, or boredom in actually have control at all. the pursuit of a longer life” (2-3, emphasis in original). From these starting points, it should be clear that the book is of interest Ehrenreich endured breast cancer in her to get tested for sleep apnea, and to those of us who are aging, might the early 2000s, and a false positive on a Ehrenreich balked, insisting she has no possibly begin aging, have parents or mammogram, a decade later, leading to symptoms of the problem, “the dentist weeks of stress, anxiety, and distraction, said that I just might not be aware of it, helped prompt her decision. But her adding that it could kill me in my sleep. critical consideration of medicine began This, I told her, is a prospect I can live when she was a young woman expected with” (7). to be quiet and pliant as her doctor But it was not only her own experi- performed invasive tests and proce- ences with medical care that sent dures and delivered her children. These Ehrenreich researching and writing experiences not only awakened her to Natural Causes, it was ongoing and feminism but also impelled Ehrenreich enlightening scientific research, some to question medical professionals, rather of which she found deeply disturbing. than simply follow orders. While most of us recognize Ehrenreich Lest anyone accuse her of a misguided for her bestselling Nickel and Dimed: campaign against the wonders of On Not Getting by in America, she earned modern medicine, Ehrenreich assures her doctorate in cell biology, conduct- the reader she eats well, exercises for ing research on microphages, immune the joy of it, and will seek care when cells “considered the ‘frontline defend- she feels there might be an issue, but ers’ in the body’s unending struggle simply refuses to seek out problems. For against microbial invaders” (XI). Her instance, when her dentist encouraged research had given her great respect for our immune systems, and

November 2018 39 family members who are aging, or criticism here, it is important to con- Much of the latter part of Natural Causes those of us who might one day die. sider how often we blame poor health focuses on our growing understand- But Ehrenreich’s style is thoroughly on people (consider commonplace ing of immunity and cellular biology. critical: for anyone who is deeply com- social proscriptions against smoking, While research scientists might grum- mitted to the omnipotence of science drinking—did you read that recent ble at Ehrenreich’s simplification of and medicine, or even the absolute study of how any alcohol is bad for complex biological processes, laypeople power of mindfulness, positivity, and you?1 —and a sedentary lifestyle. We might grumble at her facility with the primacy of the self, you might find are often presumed guilty, or at least scientific terminology and focus on yourself defensive in a few places as she complicit, in our own illnesses). microscopic life. But it is her explana- takes aim at socially accepted truisms. tions of cellular behavior (and a final look at the historical growth of a concept of “self”) that round out the Looking further into current and book and emphasize her argument that we should live our lives “to die ongoing research, she learned into the actual world, which seethes with life, with agency other than that there is growing awareness our own, and, at the very least, with of “cellular decision making” and endless possibility” (208). For me, the richest parts of Ehrenreich’s that “the natural world, as we are work are those that meld her personal experience and acerbic wit with social coming to understand it, pulses and scientific research. Unfortunately, in several places, the book strays from with something like ‘life.’” these. But regardless of whether we agree or disagree with her interpreta- tions and use of research, Natural Causes raises interesting ideas of selfhood, Her early chapters examine humiliating Given a tendency to assign simple cau- health, and the absolute certainty and sometimes even assault-like reali- sality for illness, wellness culture fills of dying. ties of medical procedures (for anyone a large void. Fitness guides and Silicon who has ever experienced a pelvic exam Valley tech gurus have all monetized or mammogram, you know exactly the realm of living well, living long, what she is talking about here). They and controlling our bodies to fight also detail how medicine has, histori- death. “Conflict may be endemic to cally, been rooted not in evidence but, the human world, with all its jagged rather in authority and ritual, a fault not inequalities, but it must be abolished simply of the medical system but also of within the individual” (111). Though patients who expect certain procedures the list of well-known fitness or tech and tests (even when unnecessary). giants felled by illness in their middle age is significant (Steve Jobs, Apple Ehrenreich then explores the enormous Norma Anderson is Associate Professor in founder, Jerome Rodale, founder of commodification and inequalities of the Department of Sociology. Prevention magazine, and numerous health, wellness, and mindfulness, others) longevity and holistic health considering gym culture, simplified have become middle and upper-class meditation rituals (those two-minute pursuits, further marginalizing those mindfulness apps on your phone), the who don’t have the time, money, or rise of various fad diets and pills, and even ability, at the end of working companies’ investment in “wellness” multiple shifts, to devote themselves for their employees. To be open to her to wellness.

1 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31310-2/fulltext#seccestitle70

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