Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright
My Rating: ★★★★★
Putting a hilarious spin on history in all the right places, Jennifer Wright will crack you up while telling you all about some of the worst plagues that have been documented. If you’re someone who hears about diseases or ailments and immediately think that you have them, this book might not be for you. However, if you’re someone who likes to read about history and are interested in learning about some of the most notable disease outbreaks, this is the book for you.
When I picked up this book, I was not expecting to laugh as much as I did. Don’t get me wrong; the subject matter is serious, but Jennifer has a sense of humor that translates well even in nonfiction. Every time she inserts a photo, the caption has me rolling. At one point, there’s an illustration showing two people being treated for the Bubonic Plague. Her caption reads:
“These guys were lucky—they had pillows and an in-home wizard.”
There was never a funny moment that was horribly misplaced. There are chapters where the author is not funny because there just isn’t a time for it. However, other chapters let her personality shine through in sections and I was cracking up. It’s not a book that has a monotone voice like some nonfiction novels have.
I learned a lot throughout the chapters. I had heard of majority of the diseases and had some knowledge about them, but the only one I really knew a lot about was the travesty that was lobotomies. This is the one chapter that’s not an actual disease but rather a horrific catch-all treatment that did a lot of harm to the people who were operated on. There’s a lot of interesting information throughout the chapters including some interesting cases and notable names, treatment attempts, and cases.
This is an excellent book that’s perfect for anyone’s collection in addition to making a great gift for those interested in historical overviews.
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