In The Demon Under the Microscope, Thomas Hager chronicles the
dramatic history of sulfa, the first antibiotic and the drug that shaped
modern medicine.
The Nazis discovered it. The Allies won the war with it. It conquered
diseases, changed laws, and single-handedly launched the era of
antibiotics. Sulfa saved millions of lives--among them those of Winston
Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.--but its real effects are
even more far reaching. Sulfa changed the way new drugs were developed,
approved, and sold; transformed the way doctors treated patients; and
ushered in the era of modern medicine. The very concept that chemicals
created in a lab could cure disease revolutionized medicine, taking it
from the treatment of symptoms and discomfort to the eradication of the
root cause of illness.
A strange and colorful story, The Demon Under the Microscope
illuminates the vivid characters, corporate strategy, individual
idealism, careful planning, lucky breaks, cynicism, heroism, greed, hard
work, and the central (though mistaken) idea that brought sulfa to the
world. This is a fascinating scientific tale with all the excitement and
intrigue of a great suspense novel.