Cancer

Cancer is one of the main topics featured in "Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place." During the course of the book, Williams' mother, Diane Dixon Tempest is stricken with ovarian cancer. Diane is not the first member of the Tempest family to have cancer. In fact, Williams reports that the members of her family, not all related by blood, have all been deeply affected by cancer. At the time of the author's writings, nine members of the Tempest family have succumbed to cancer; seven of the women undergo mastectomies. The latter prompts the final chapter in the book: "The Clan of One-Breasted Women."

Cancer has been studied rigorously but no concrete answers have been found and, by and large, there is no "cure." Williams believes that the high rate of cancer in her family can be attributed to nuclear testing that took place in the Nevada...