A review by kymme
The Speckled Monster: A Historical Tale of Battling Smallpox by Jennifer Lee Carrell

5.0

This book was so incredibly fascinating. I decided not to include "scholarly" books on my goodreads, but this one is both fun and super-well-researched, so it straddles both worlds, to an extent. I learned a ton from it, and not least to be grateful to only have ear infections to worry over with my son, and not deadly smallpox outbreaks. The story is beautifully wrought, and surprising, particularly for those who expect modern medical advances to have come from, well, medical experts... this book nicely shows the wisdom of the folk over that of (most) learned physicians--a stance I can well appreciate.