The Emperor of All Maladies
A Biography of Cancer
Scribner · Print & ebook · November 25, 2025
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 100 BOOK OF THE CENTURY * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A TIME ALL-TIME 100 NONFICTION BOOK Updated with FOUR NEW MAJOR CHAPTERS illuminating the new developments in cancer detection, prevention, treatment, and understanding in the fifteen years since the book’s first publication, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer.
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- Who it’s for
- A layered, lucid account that makes cancer feel both vast and strangely readable.
- Themes
- cancer, medical history, scientific discovery
- Pacing
- Steady
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WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 100 BOOK OF THE CENTURY * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A TIME ALL-TIME 100 NONFICTION BOOK Updated with FOUR NEW MAJOR CHAPTERS illuminating the new developments in cancer detection, prevention, treatment, and understanding in the fifteen years since the book’s first publication, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer.
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Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies became an instant classic when it was published in 2010. A magnificent, humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic 20th century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence—The Emperor of All Maladies is one of the most highly acclaimed books of its time. In the years since Mukherjee dazzled readers with The Emperor of All Maladies, much has changed in the universe of cancer—in our understanding of its causes; in our attempts to prevent it; and in the revolutionary new treatments. In four profound and revelatory new chapters—essentially a new book about cancer—he illuminates this disease with both a bird’s eye view of the landscape and an acute focus on the role of the cell. He also looks at imminent new studies—and to the future. Riveting, audacious, and now more urgent than ever in this vast update, The Emperor of All Maladies is a masterpiece.
Big Disease, Clear Lens
A layered, lucid account that makes cancer feel both vast and strangely readable.
Come here for
- cancer, science, and clean prose
- a serious book that still reads with momentum
Expect
- historical sweep
- clear explanation without the classroom tone
Where it sits
| Medical History | 54% |
|---|---|
| Cancer | 50% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Civilizations
- Medical History
- Social Science
- Authors
- Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Publisher
- Scribner
- Published
- November 25, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- cancer · medical history · scientific discovery
- Reading lane
- Civilizations