Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/January 2023/Book reviews
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The Wizards of Oz |
- By Hawkeye7
When I step out of the office, there are large buildings to the left and right. On the right is one named for Mark Oliphant (he also has a road bridge over nearby Sullivans Creek); on the left is one named for Howard Florey. I was not sure what to make of this book when I first picked it up. For a start, why write about two scientists instead of just one? That never seems to work out well. They did have many things in common: they were both born in Adelaide around the turn of the twentieth century, and attended the University of Adelaide. The author establishes that they did know each other back then, before pursuing research careers in the UK. Neither man is well known today, even in Australia, but they are associated with some of the most important developments of the Second World War. Oliphant spent most of the interwar period working under
At the same time, Oliphant had
Howard Florey was a medical researcher who resolved to pursue the study of antibiotics. He put a team together that included
From this point, Florey's invention took a similar trajectory to that of Oliphant's cavity magnetron and atomic bomb. Florey turned to America to provide industrial capacity for the manufacture of his team's inventions. This took some effort; most scientists were sceptical of its feasibility. He managed to convince
Florey, Cain and Fleming (in that order of priority) were nominated for and awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945; Heatley, Moyer and Hunt were also worthy. That Fleming, who had the least to do with it, was widely touted as the inventor of penicillin in the UK instead of Florey is typical of the place where, as Lucy Worsley puts it, most of what passes for history is "a mixture of fact, fantasy and fib".
The research on the book is first rate and, despite the popular science tone, it incorporates the latest scholarship.
Publishing details:
Recent external reviews |
Rowley, Trevor (2021). The Normans: A History of Conquest. New York: Pegasus Books.
- Davis-Secord, Sarah (December 2022). "Review of Rowley, Trevor, The Normans: A History of Conquest". H-War, H-Net Reviews.
Stejskal, James (2021). No Moon as Witness: Missions of the SOE and OSS in World War II. Philadelphia: Casemate.
- McGraw, Eric (9 December 2022). "No Moon as Witness". Military Review. Army University Press.
Gioia, Philip J. (2022). Danger Close! A Vietnam Memoir. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.
- Morelock, Jerry D. (14 December 2022). "Book Review: Danger Close! A Vietnam Memoir". HistoryNet.
Waters, Conrad, ed. (2022). Seaforth World Naval Review 2022. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
- Mortimer, John (17 December 2022). "Seaforth Naval Review 2022". Australian Naval Institute.
Various books
- "The 2022 War on the Rocks Reading List". War on the Rocks. 6 December 2022.
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