In 2005 Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, unveiled a new state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar cancer center. Determined to understand the whole spectrum of factors that determine what kind of medical care people receive in this country, best-selling author Julie Salamon spent one year tracking the progess of the center and getting to know the characters who make the hospital run.

Located in a community where 67 different languages are spoken, Maimonides is a case study for the particular kinds of concerns that arise in institutions that serve an increasingly multicultural American demographic.

Granted astonishing access by the hospital higher-ups, Salamon followed the doctors, patients, administrators, nurses, ambulance drivers, cooks, and cleaning staff. She explored not just the action on the ground but also the financial, ethical, technological, socioloical, and cultural matters that the hospital community encounters every day.

Drawing on her skills as interviewer, observer, and social critic, Salamon presents the story of modern medicine. She draws out the internal and external political machinations that exist between doctors and staff, as well as between hospital and community. And she grounds the science and emotion of medical drama in the financial realities of operating a huge, private institution that must contend with such issues as adapting to the specific needs of the immigrant groups that make up a large and growing portion of our society.