Oshinsky, who won a Pulitzer for 2005s Polio: An American Story, returns to the realm of doctors and diseases in this sprawling story of Manhattans Bellevue Hospital.
He skillfully guides us through the years from its 1736 founding as an almshouse to the present, delving into the myriad ways the publicly funded hospital dealt with medical issues of yore like tuberculosis and pre-anesthesic, pre-antiseptic surgery, before graduating to unprecedented terrors like the AIDS epidemic and Hurricane Sandy.
Youll walk away in awe of this tenacious institutionand marvel at the way Oshinsky also fits a comprehensive but succinct history of modern medicine itself into the same book.B+
