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A number of hormones control the development and function of the normal human breast and many of them also influence the growth of breast malignancies. The use of hormonal ablation in breast cancer treatment began over 100 years ago and has continued to this day. While initially most hormonal ablation procedures were surgical, such operations are generally obsolete now, having been replaced by pharmacologic compounds, which block the effects of specific hormones. In this issue of Current Problems in Surgery, Drs. Boughey and Hunt, of the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, have written an authoritative and excellent monograph on “Recent Advances in Hormonal Therapy for Breast Cancer.” Their treatise is a current state of the art assessment of hormone and antihormone therapy for patients with breast cancer, which includes the results of several important multi-center clinical trials, which have defined the place of hormone therapy in this disease. This monograph will be essential reading for oncologists who treat patients with this very common malignancy.