Winner,2018PEN/E.O.WilsonPrizeforLiteraryScienceWritingShort-listedforthe2018WellcomeBookPrizeATop10ScienceBookofFall2017,PublishersWeeklyABestHistoryBookof2017,TheGuardian“Warning:Shesparesnodetail!“--ErikLarson,bestsellingauthorofDeadWakeInTheButcheringArt,thehistorianLindseyFitzharrisrevealstheshockingworldofnineteenth-centurysurgeryandshowshowitwastransformedbyadvancesmadeingermtheoryandantisepticsbetween1860and1875.Sheconjuresupearlyoperatingtheaters--noplaceforthesqueamish--andsurgeons,who,workingbeforeanesthesia,werelaudedfortheirspeedandbrutestrength.Thesepioneersknewthattheaftermathofsurgerywasoftenmoredangerousthanpatients’afflictions,andtheywerebaffledbythepersistentinfectionsthatkeptmortalityratesstubbornlyhigh.Atatimewhensurgerycouldn’thavebeenmorehazardous,anunlikelyfiguresteppedforward:ayoung,melancholyQuakersurgeonnamedJosephLister,whowouldsolvetheriddleandchangethecourseofhistory.FitzharrisdramaticallyreconstructsLister’scareerpathtohisaudaciousclaimthatgermswerethesourceofallinfectionandcouldbecounteredbyasterilizingagentappliedtowounds.SheintroducesustoLister’scontemporaries--someofthembrilliant,someoutrightcriminal--andleadsusthroughthegrimyschoolsandsqualidhospitalswheretheylearnedtheirart,thedeadhouseswheretheystudied,andthecemeteriestheyransackedforcadavers.Eerieandilluminating,TheButcheringArtcelebratesthetriumphofavisionarysurgeonwhosequesttounitescienceandmedicinedeliveredusintothemodernworld.
