Dr. Mutter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine

(Paperback)

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Thomas Mutter was an audacious medical innovator who pioneered the use of ether as anaesthesia, the sterilisation of surgical tools and a compassion- based vision for helping the severely deformed, which clashed with the sentiments of the mid- nineteenth century. Brilliant, outspoken and handsome, Mutter was flamboyant in every aspect of his life. He wore pink silk suits to perform surgery, added an umlaut to his surname just because he could and amassed an immense collection of medical oddities that would later form Philadelphia's Mutter Museum.

Reviews

[Aptowiczs] poetic eye is exactly what makes Dr. Mtters Marvels a marvel itself. . . . With clinical precision, Aptowicz lays bare the facts of Mtters colorful, tumultuous life. . . . For a book so immersed in the intimate perspective of its subject, it also brings a broad perspective about everything from the development of modern medicine to womens issues of the nineteenth century, not to mention how norms of beauty and the definitions of monstrosity have inspired and held us back over the centuries. With Dr. Mtters Marvels, Aptowicz keeps a steady hand on her historical scalpel, even as she wields it with a winning flourish.
NPR Books

Ms. Aptowicz rescues Mtter the man from undeserved obscurity, recreating his short life and hard times with wit, energy, and gusto. Her book, like the Mtter Museum, is a reminder that the course of human suffering and the progress of medical science are often messy, complex, and stranger than can be imagined.
The Wall Street Journal

As a huge fan of the Mtter Museum in Philadelphia, I was excited to get my hands on this rich biography of the real doctor, Thomas Mtter, a nineteenth-century surgeon who treated people with misunderstood conditions and amassed a fascinating collection of medical oddities.
USA Today

Austin-based poet and writer Aptowicz, a woman whose various awards and publications attest to her formidable skill and style when dealing with an impressive diversity of subjects . . . provide[s] such a thorough and compelling account of Mtters life and times, his medical innovations and personal fortitude, his enduring legacy, as is to be found between the well-designed covers of this new book.
The Austin Chronicle

Aptowicz does an excellent job of establishing the context of the times and competing personalities. . . . As Aptowicz clearly shows, [Mtters] legacy lives on in many aspects of medicine we now take for granted.
The Seattle Times

Aptowicz has a keen eye for the eras grotesque details (amputation accidents, for one thing) and an obvious sympathy for Mtters passion and legacy.
The Boston Globe

Aptowicz shows Mtter, beloved by his students, evolving from a mischievous, impatient young doctor to an increasingly spiritual man beset by premature illness, and her writing is as full of life as her subject.
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Dr. Mtters Marvels is both an insightful portrait of a pioneering surgeon and a reminder of how far medicine has come.
BookPage

Dr. Mtters Marvels is narrative nonfiction at its best. . . . Aptowicz is refreshingly careful with her language, keeping the narrative speculation to a minimum, painting most of her scenery with the weight of her research. She revels in the details, but largely lets the reader draw their own conclusions. The result is an approachable history of a man and of a time period that does exactly what narrative nonfiction should do: answers the questions the reader never realized they had.
A.V. Club

In her deftly crafted narrative, the author provides an absorbing account of the charismatic surgeons life and career as well as a vivid look at the medical practices and prejudices of his time. Aptowicz draws nicely on Mtters speeches and lectures to reveal the depth of his empathetic philosophies and humanist approach.
Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Aptowicz penned a fast-moving and popular history of the early- to mid-nineteenth-century American and Parisian medical worlds, making the most of works by and about Mtters contemporaries.
Library Journal (Starred Review)

Aptowicz pens a fascinating and muscular biography of Dr. Thomas Dent Mtter, splendidly re-creating the doctors medical advancements, the age in which he worked, and the conditions and practices he sought to change.
Library Journal, Wyatts World

Aptowicz approaches her subject with passion and finesse, so that the book reads more like fiction than nonfiction, ensuring that it will appeal to a wide audience.
Publishers Weekly, Galley Talk

Cristin OKeefe Aptowiczs true tale of intrigue and innovation at the dawn of modern medicine is such a captivating, gripping, and intensely interesting historical tale that even the reader who has mere casual interest in the subject will find themselves devouring Aptowiczs text in a matter of days, if not hours.
Fanboy Comics

Ms. Aptowicz rescues Mtter the man from undeserved obscurity, recreating his short life and hard times with wit, energy, and gusto. Her book, like the Mtter Museum, is a reminder that the course of human suffering and the progress of medical science are often messy, complex, and stranger than can be imagined.
Dr. John J. Ross, author of Shakespeares Tremor and Orwells Cough: Diagnosing the Medical Groans and Last Gasps of Ten Great Writers

An extraordinary, moving, and humbling story about a remarkable and compassionate surgeon who changed the face of medicine forever. Cristin OKeefe Aptowicz immerses us in the strange world of Dr. Thomas Mtter and unfolds the tale of his pioneering approach to surgery with verve, wit, and sensitivity. We are all of us the richer for Dr. Mtters visionary work and the legacy he left us in the shape of one of the worlds most beguiling museums.
Wendy Moore, author of The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery

Author Bio

Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz is an award-winning writer of Words in Your Face- A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam and popular touring poet and spoken-word performer. She lives in Austin, Texas.