A review by chadwika
Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail by Stephen R. Bown

5.0

An incredible book about one of the first triumphs of Public Health in Europe during a time when science struggled to break-free of past paradigms. The author does a wonderful job highlighting the many internal forces that prevented the British Royal Navy from addressing scurvy successfully, not least being their truly shocking disinterest in preserving the lives of their sailors. The one part of the book that fails in my opinion is the way indigenous peoples are treated by the author during the chapters discussing Captain Cook. There was no effort made to incorporate our current knowledge of these peoples and their culture and traditions, with Cook's limited interpretation solely being presented as truth.