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The One True Universal microphages in particular, so when she
read an article that implicated them in
Norma Anderson assisting the growth of some cancerous
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

to Live Longer (New York: Twelve, 2018). in 2000 is one of numerous cancer
types that the immune system has
n the beginning of her most recent book, Natural been shown to abet, thus the cells she
once studied and celebrated might well
Causes: an Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of have played a role in her own illness.
IDying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer, Barbara Looking further into current and ongo-
Ehrenreich admits that she has made the somewhat ing research, she learned that there is
growing awareness of “cellular decision
unusual decision to forego preventative medical care. making” and that “the natural world,
Noting that most of her similar-aged peers were as we are coming to understand it,
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-
regimens, and a bevy of exploratory medical tests, ness, eating habits, and medicine can
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

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