Empire of the Scalpel The History of Surgery

From an expert surgeon and historian with six decades of experience comes a remarkable history of surgery’s development—from the 16th-century to the present day—blending meticulous medical research with lively and skillful storytelling.

There are not many events in life that can be simultaneously frightening and life-saving as a surgical operation. In America, 37 million major surgical procedures are performed annually yet few of us pause to consider the magnitude of these figures because we have such inherent confidence in surgeons. And, despite passionate debates about healthcare and the endless fascination with medical procedures, most of us have no idea how the first surgeons came to be because the story of surgery has never been fully told. Now, Empire of the Scalpel elegantly reveals the fascinating story of surgery’s evolution from its earliest roots in Europe through its rise to scientific and social dominance in the United States.

From the 16th-century saga of Andreas Vesalius and his crusade to accurately describe human anatomy while appeasing the conservative clergy who clamored for his burning at the stake, to the hard-to-believe story of late-19th century surgeons’ apathy to Joseph Lister’s innovation of antisepsis and how this indifference led to thousands of unnecessary surgical deaths Empire of the Scalpel is both a global history and a uniquely American tale. You’ll discover how in the 20th century the US achieved surgical world supremacy heralded by Harvard’s Francis Moore and his Nobel Prize-winning, seemingly impossible feat of transplanting a kidney, and much more.

Today, the list of possible operations is almost infinite—from knee and hip replacement to heart bypass to fat reduction and rhinoplasty—and Rutkow draws on his sixty-year career to show us how we got here. Comprehensive, authoritative, and captivating, Empire of the Scalpel captures the evolution of surgery in all its dramatic and life-enhancing complexity and shows that its history is truly one awe-inspiring triumph after another.

Ira Rutkow is a retired general surgeon and historian of American medicine. He assembled several encyclopedic books on surgical history: Surgery: An Illustrated History, named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; American Surgery: An Illustrated History; and a two-volume bibliography, The History of Surgery in the United States, 1775-1900. He is also the author of three previous works, Seeking the Cure, James A. Garfield, and Bleeding Blue and Gray.