Book No. 33 of 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about the history of poison in Western Europe. Because of the deeply intertwined relationship between poison, politics, and medicine/public health, the book also offers many fascinating glimpses into royal drama (lots of politically fraught love affairs!) and the frustratingly misguided views on science and medicine before the 19th century. This book is a treasure trove of fun facts and easily accessible historical and scientific insights.
This book is not recommended if you are very squeamish reading about medical treatments (think: 16th century attitudes about bleeding and humors, for a start). There is also a remark in the author’s afterword that has a whiff of ableism, just fyi. 👀
Also, I am now halfway through my reading goal for 2020! I’m also going more slowly through books, because I just got a cat and she is very distracting.
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This book reminded me of the real-life political intrigue in The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt.