The Butchering Art

A brilliant and gripping account of the almost unimaginable horrors of surgery and post-operative infection before Lister transformed it all with his invention of antisepsis. It is the story of one of the truly great men of medicine and of the triumph of humane scientific method and dogged persistence over dogmatic ignorance

Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm and Admissions

In The Butchering Art, Lindsey Fitzharris becomes our Dante, leading us through the macabre hell of nineteenth-century surgery to tell the story of Joseph Lister, the man who solved one of medicine's most daunting - and lethal - puzzles. With gusto, Dr. Fitzharris takes us into the operating 'theaters' of yore, as Lister awakens to the true nature of the killer that turned so many surgeries into little more than slow-moving executions. Warning: She spares no detail!

Erik Larson, bestselling author of Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City

The Butchering Art is medical history at its most visceral and vivid. It will make you forever grateful to Joseph Lister, the man who saved us from the horror of pre-antiseptic surgery, and to Lindsey Fitzharris, who brings to life the harrowing and deadly sights, smells, and sounds of a nineteenth-century hospital

Caitlin Doughty, bestselling author of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and From Here to Eternity

With an eye for historical detail and an ear for vivid prose, Lindsey Fitzharris tells a spectacular story about one of the most important moments in the history of medicine-the rise of sterile surgery. The Butchering Art is a spectacular book-deliciously gruesome and utterly gripping. You will race through it, wincing as you go, but never wanting to stop

Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes

Fitzharris slices into medical history with this excellent biography of Joseph Lister, the 19th-century "hero of surgery." ... She infuses her thoughtful and finely crafted examination of this revolution with the same sense of wonder and compassion Lister himself brought to his patients, colleagues, and students

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Electric. The drama of Lister's mission to shape modern medicine is as exciting as any novel

Dan Snow, author of Battlefield Britain

An absolutely fascinating and grisly read that vividly brings to life the world of the Victorian operating theatre

Catharine Arnold, author of Bedlam and Necropolis

Fascinating and shocking ... [Fitzharris] offers an important reminder that, while many regard science as the key to progress, it can only help in so far as people are willing to open their minds to embrace change

Kirkus (Starred Review)

Engaging and extensively researched ... A riveting and sympathetic description of one man's quest to help humanity

Patricia Fara, Literary Review

Thoroughly enjoyable ... With The Butchering Art, Fitzharris explores the intersection of Lister's life, the development of antiseptic surgery, and the horrors of the wards with an almost surgical precision

Nicola Davis, 'Book of the Day', Observer

Gloriously pulsating ... [Fitzharris] has an eye for morbid detail, visceral imagery and comic potential. From out of this hellish vision, Lister emerges as the cool, modern, scientific saviour to whom we should all give thanks

Wendy Moore, Guardian

Well researched and written with verve... A fine read full of vivid detail, prompting thoughtful reflection on the past, and the challenging future, of surgical practice

Tilli Tansey, Nature

An illuminating and grisly look at the work of hacksaw-wielding surgeons of the 19th century

Sian Cain, Guardian

Scintillating and shocking ... A book full of gangrene, pus and hideous pain, which will make you thankful never to suffer the horror of having a tumour removed from your jaw with no pain relief

Bee Wilson, Sunday Times

A lively read, constantly entertaining ... Fitzharris is an unapologetic showman. I imagine her as a ringmaster, inviting us to roll up and read if we dare

The National

Brilliant ... Thanks to Lister's dogged pursuit of knowledge and fervent attention to the needs of surgical patients, death rates plummeted. Fitzharris tells this story with an equal attention to detail

Joanna Bourke, Telegraph

Book of the Week

The Week

Hugely entertaining and informative ... Fitzharris brings [Joseph Lister's] sensibility to life with great energy and elegance, and her account is vivid and entertaining, as well as enjoyably (and sometimes eye-wateringly) graphic. The result is rich with anecdote and intellectual excitement, replete with emotional resonance and narrative pleasure

Matthew Adams, National

Bloody, visceral, and fascinating

Entertainment Weekly

Atmospheric ... The Butchering Art has its share of resplendent gore

Jennifer Senior, New York Times

The Butchering Art is a formidable achievement - a rousing take told with brio, featuring a real-life hero worthy of the ages and jolts of Victorian horror to rival the most lurid moments of Wilkie Collins

John J. Ross, Wall Street Journal

Gruesomely compelling ... A fascinating account

Nick Rennison, Daily Mail

The Butchering Art, with its attention to detail, its admiration for its subject and its unflinching sympathy for the suffering, proposes a causal chain - running through the history of human sickness and not yet at its end - in which Lister forms a strong and vital link

Sarah Perry, London Review of Books