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Presented in partnership with the National WWI Museum and Memorial and the Kansas City Public LibraryÂ
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From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: humankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. WWI claimed millions of lives and left millions more wounded and disfigured. Amidst this brutality, there were those who endeavored to alleviate suffering. "The Facemaker" tells the extraordinary story of pioneering plastic surgeon Harold Gillies. At a time when losing a limb made a soldier a hero, but a wounded face made him a monster to a society largely intolerant of disfigurement, Gillies restored not just the faces of the wounded, but also their spirits.
The New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris will join us virtually, as we discuss Gillies’s ingenious surgical innovations alongside the dramatic stories of soldiers whose lives were wrecked and repaired.Â
Lindsey Fitzharris is a New York Times bestselling author with a PhD in the History of Science and Medicine from the University of Oxford. Her debut book, The Butchering Art, won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Literary Science and has been translated into twenty languages.
Her latest book, The Facemaker, debuted at #4 on the L.A. Times Bestseller List, and was recently long listed for the Kirkus Book Prize.Â
Lindsey writes regularly for a variety of publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, The Guardian, The Lancet, and New Scientist. Her television series on the Smithsonian Channel, The Curious Life and Death of…, explores some of the most mysterious deaths in history. Lindsey is currently working on a children’s book with her husband Adrian Teal, notable artist and caricaturist for the hit TV series, Spitting Image.
