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THE MIRACULOUS FEVER TREE

Name: THE MIRACULOUS FEVER TREE
Author: Fiammetta Rocco
ISBN: 0-06-019951-2

MALARIA AND THE QUEST FOR A CURE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

by Fiammetta Rocco ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2003

Snappy and sharp, picaresque but scholarly: it’s almost a crime that so heinous a disease should be treated to so grand a...

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A seasoned, filigreed history of malaria and its treatment.

Malaria is still one of the great scourges, turning the blood to sludge, blackening the liver and spleen: “Malaria is so common, and so deadly, that the WHO estimates one person dies of it every fifteen seconds. . . . Yet the mosquito that carries it is little larger than an eyelash.” Economist literary editor Rocco describes—in fine writing that speaks both of personal experience and well-edited research—the nature of the disease, its spread from place to place, how two missionaries working in Peru learned of the bark that cured the shivering disease, how seedlings were smuggled out of the country to a British plantation in the Nilgiri Hills of southwest India, and how the European pharmacopoeia evolved, with its tapping of drugs and chemicals from colonial and missionary outposts. But what keeps the engine of the narrative moving is the ever-present understanding that “political rivalry, religious pressure, scientific one-upmanship and petty human jealousy all had a part to play in the quest for the magical tree that produced the Jesuit powder that cured the ague.” Rocco is an adept in the medical detective story, in the tradition of Berton Rouché, detailing the work of Ronald Ross, Patrick Manson, and W.G. MacCullum as they seek to unravel the source of the parasite. Then there is the subtext, which Rocco exploits with care, that malaria served as a brake to colonialism, proselytism, and their fellow traveler, war: that commerce and religion would not be able to level all in their path. This is also a cautionary tale on the pillage of natural resources, nurtured by the Jesuits, then heedlessly harvested by bark hunters.

Snappy and sharp, picaresque but scholarly: it’s almost a crime that so heinous a disease should be treated to so grand a biography. (16-page b&w photo insert, not seen)

Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2003

ISBN: 0-06-019951-2

Page Count: 368

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.