Antoine Lavoisier reinvented chemistry, overthrowing the
long-established principles of alchemy and inventing an entirely new
terminology, one still in use by chemists. Madison Smartt Bell's
enthralling narrative reads like a race to the finish line, as the very
circumstances that enabled Lavoisier to secure his reputation as the
father of modern chemistry--a considerable fortune and social
connections with the likes of Benjamin Franklin--also caused his glory
to be cut short by the French Revolution.