The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug

Fast-paced, suspenseful, and utterly satisfying, The Demon Under the Microscope is a sweeping history of the discovery of the first antibiotic and its dramatic effect on the world of medicine and beyond. The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of antibiotics. This incredible discovery was sulfa, the first antibiotic medication. In The Demon Under the Microscope Thomas Hager chronicles the dramatic history of the drug that shaped modern medicine. Sulfa saved millions of lives--among them Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr.--but its real effects are even more far reaching. Sulfa changed the way new drugs were developed, approved and sold; transformed the way doctors treated patients; and ushered in the era of modern medicine. The very concept that chemicals created in a lab could cure disease revolutionized medicine, taking it from the treatment of symptoms and discomfort to the eradication of the root cause of illness. A strange and vibrant story, The Demon Under the Microscope illuminates the colorful characters, corporate strategy, individual idealism, careful planning, lucky breaks, cynicism, heroism, greed, hard work, and the central, though mistaken, idea that brought sulfa to the world. This is a fascinating scientific tale with all the excitement and intrigue of a great suspense novel.

About the Author :
Veteran science and medical writer Thomas Hager is the author of three books, including Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling, and his work has appeared in publications ranging from Reader's Digest to Medical Tribune. A former director of the University of Oregon Press, contributing editor to American Health, and correspondent for the Journal of the American Medical Association, he lives in Eugene, Oregon. Stephen Hoye has worked as a professional actor in London and Los Angeles for more than thirty years. Trained at Boston University and the Guildhall in London, he has acted in television series and six feature films and has appeared in London's West End. His audiobook narration has won him fifteen AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Review :
"Fascinating...A rousing, valuable contribution to the history of medicine." -- "Kirkus Reviews (starred)" "This is a grand story, and Mr. Hager tells it well...One can easily imagine The Demon Under the Microscope, like Microbe Hunters before it, inspiring in young, idealistic readers the enthusiasm for medical research and the zeal for healing that generates great physicians." -- "Wall Street Journal" "This yarn prefigures the modern rush for corporate pharma patents; it is testament to Hager's skills that the inherently unsexy process of finding the chemicals that might help conquer strep is as exciting an account of the hunt for a Russian submarine." -- "Publishers Weekly"