Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution

Holly Tucker

Mar 2011 · W. W. Norton & Company

About this ebook

"Excellent…Tucker’s chronicle of the world of 17th-century science in London and Paris is fascinating." —The Economist

In December 1667, maverick physician Jean Denis transfused calf’s blood into one of Paris’s most notorious madmen. Days later, the madman was dead and Denis was framed for murder. A riveting exposé of the fierce debates, deadly politics, and cutthroat rivalries behind the first transfusion experiments, Blood Work takes us from dissection rooms in palaces to the streets of Paris, providing an unforgettable portrait of an era that wrestled with the same questions about morality and experimentation that haunt medical science today.

Ratings and reviews

Read City Of Light ,City of Poison as well to get the full story. Best history book ever!

About the author

Holly Tucker is the author of City of Light, City of Poison and Blood Work, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, and is a professor of French at Vanderbilt University. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and Aix-en-Provence, France.