fantastic, reads like a first rate thriller. all the triumphs and tragedies in finding and then losing such a wonderful tool ( )

This is NOT one doctor's heroic search. Who let some rando off the street subtitle their book like that? This is an interesting story written like a novel with multiple Point-of-View characters. Too long for me, but I can't really handle books over 200 pages anymore. ( )

I can't remember how I came to add this to my TRL but I have a feeling it was a recommended read on StoryGraph. It turned out to be an excellent recommendation because it was SO. GOOD.

Now I know that non-fiction science books are quite a niche genre of books to be gaga over but this book is a prime example of why you should give it a try if you've never ventured down this road before. Hager delves into the fascinating world of antibacterials, medical patents, and drug regulation laws. He gives the complete history of wartime injuries and disease from gas gangrene to gonorrhea and how the medical community was at a loss as to treatment or cure. And then the Germans began work on an industrial level to develop a 'magic bullet' that would not only cure strep and staph but a whole host of other bacterial diseases which at the time were death sentences. The truly interesting bits were about how these medicines were researched and developed in one country (with patents for their production process in the case of Germany and France) and then further expanded upon and improved in other countries (Great Britain and the United States held patents on brand names instead of processes). He also goes into patent medicines which at the time (1920-1940s) were unregulated and basically a free-for-all to anyone who wanted to make a quick buck. FASCINATING STUFF, YA'LL.

Conclusion: If you like history and most especially medical history then this book needs to be added to your list toot sweet. ( )

To refer to this book as "the development of antibiotics", or "the history of sulfa drugs" would be a disservice to the author. Those descriptions, while valid, sound dry and boring, which is the complete opposite of this book. The book jacket describes the book as reading like a novel, and that's a fairly accurate description. The improvement in our soldiers survival rates from battlefield injuries in WWII was dramatic, as was the tireless efforts of the researchers, and the pre-FDA U.S. drug industry. ( )

Interesting read. The author does a good job of telling a detailed technical story. ( )