Microbe Hunters

By Paul De Kruif

To begin, let’s get one big issue out of the way. In one of the front pages, the publisher notes that the book was written in 1926 and has some phrasings the modern reader might find “infelicitous”. If by “infelicitous” one means “appallingly racist,” then the note is accurate. If the reader can tolerate that, this is a great book.
At first, the enthusiasm he evinces for his subjects—Leeuwenhoek, Pasteur, Ehrlich and others—might be a bit off-putting. Yet because these men discovered, analyzed, and contained the germs and bacteria that ended so many lives prematurely, you will agree with him that these are the truest heroes we have. Think: were it not for the efforts of the Microbe Hunters, you might not be alive to read these words.