{"product_id":"curved-air-kevin-davies-9780674293960","title":"Curved Air: A Biography of Sickle Cell Anemia and the Quest to Cure the First Molecular Disease","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow sickle cell anemia led the quest to edit the human genome while patients endured decades of racial discrimination and medical neglect.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn December 1904, Walter Clement Noel, a dental student from Grenada, was admitted to a Chicago hospital with fever, jaundiced eyes, and ulcers covering his legs. When doctors examined his blood under a microscope, they were puzzled by his sickle-shaped cells. His case became enshrined in the annals of medicine as the first report of sickle cell anemia, a fatal disease that starves the body's organs of oxygen, causing excruciating pain. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eCurved Air, \u003c\/i\u003e Kevin Davies chronicles the story of sickle cell anemia from its ancient origins in Sub-Saharan Africa to its central role in the development of human genome editing, revealing how one of the world's most famous genetic diseases became its most neglected. Sickle cell anemia was the first disease to be attributed to a molecular anomaly and the first to be diagnosed prenatally with DNA testing. Yet for decades, patients, many of whom are Black, were denied lifesaving care by health providers quick to dismiss them as drug seekers. It was only after a group of researchers in the US and Europe partnered with biotech companies, physicians, and their patients that hope arrived in the form of a revolutionary gene-editing therapy: CRISPR. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA story of failure and breakthroughs, heartbreak and hope, \u003ci\u003eCurved Air\u003c\/i\u003e is a celebration of the scientists, physicians, and patients who are finally catching a glimpse of the cure they've waited generations to see.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kevin Davies\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674293967\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674293960\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Kevin Davies","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48520189640959,"sku":"9780674293960","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_848c5b6f-559d-41fc-9f4e-73730672e0a4.jpg?v=1778741275","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/curved-air-kevin-davies-9780674293960","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}