Critical Praise

"An extraordinary, moving and humbling story about a remarkable and compassionate surgeon who changed the face of medicine forever. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz immerses us in the strange world of Dr. Thomas Mütter and unfolds the tale of his pioneering approach to surgery with verve, wit and sensitivity. We are all of us the richer for Dr. Mütter’s visionary work and the legacy he left us in the shape of one of the world’s most beguiling museums."

—Wendy Moore, author of THE KNIFE MAN: Blood, Body Snatching and the Birth of Modern Surgery

"Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz has not just written a highly readable and affecting biography of the singularly debonair doctor, the ameliorator of deformities of skin and bone and the beloved teacher behind Philadelphia’s world-renowned Mütter Museum. She has given us a stirring account of the exigencies of medical practice in 19th century Philadelphia; the consequential controversies; the not-so-petty rivalries; the ghastly bravura of medically sanctioned spectacles; and, the outcomes for patients, then and now, of a profession divided and at odds. An indispensable companion to Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum, DR. MÜTTER’S MARVELS will enable visitors to encounter the collections in an entirely new and important way."

—Mary Cappello, author of SWALLOW: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion, Inspiration and the Curious