A review by sciencekoala
The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon's Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I by Lindsey Fitzharris

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This book was fantastic! It was a non-fiction read that I just couldn’t put down whenever I got the opportunity to read for myself. I learned so much about the history of plastic surgery as well as war-time medicine. WWI was a shock to the system for battlefield medics and the surgeons who had to clean up the mess- the weaponry used produced bodily damage unlike any we had ever seen while the scientific advances produced survival rates unlike what we had ever seen. The author handles the topic of these soldiers’ physical (and psychological) injuries with a perfect balance of reverence and realism, and she paints a picture of Gillies as a surgeon who was willing to do exactly the same when many of his colleagues couldn’t look past the twisted faces and figures before them to see the men and their minds left underneath. 

If you have any interest in surgery, history, WWI, medicine, or biography- I strongly recommend you read this book. 
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