Bright light. The gleam of surgical instruments. A steady, cheerful chirping of electrical devices. A caring doctor in gloves, a mask, and a white coat… Roughly like that is how we imagine a modern operating room, although it became like this only quite recently, after a long and often bloody path of trial and error. With this book, Arnold van de Laar invites the reader on an exciting journey through time. Together you’ll learn how modern surgery developed, meet the most famous patients in world history, and peek into the work of the era’s most famous surgeons—from Hippocrates to Harvey Cushing.