Nonfiction Reads for the Morbidly Curious, Pt. 2

"It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn."- Victor Frankenstein

Earlier this year, I promised myself I would read more nonfiction. Truthfully, I love nothing more than learning about weird and uncomfortable history and lore. I work it into my lectures and pull it out as (un)fun facts at parties, and it assists me with some of my more existential and spiritual questions about the world and what comes next for us all.

In August, I wrote about a handful of books that scratch that macabre itch. You can read that here. This week, however, I want to focus on some of my favorite medical/dark science reads because this is a specific fascination I’ve had for years. I’ve spent the night investigating abandoned prisons and historic asylums. I’ve sat in closed-down morgues and walked the halls of haunted hospitals. It’s why my first book, Hysteria, focused on the subject material and why, even after years of teaching, I’m back in school, majoring in forensic psychology. On top of all of that, I’m also an oddities collector, and my Victorian-era collection is something that I’ve been more focused on lately.

So, before the blood pools…let’s get into it.

First up is The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris. Now, one of my degrees is in Art History, and I can vividly remember the first time I saw Thomas Eakin’s painting, The Gross Clinic. In short, I was transfixed. It was somehow both beautiful and repulsive, and it reminded me of Shelley’s Frankenstein in that it represented this quest to learn more, to achieve more. I mention this because that painting is this book. We’re talking early surgery theatres, operations without anesthesia, and discovering the connection between germs and antiseptics. This book was a wealth of information for the medically curious, and as someone who has stood outside an amputation hospital in Gettysburg (EVP machine in hand!), I deeply appreciate and am interested in our collected history on surviving and healing.

I read Gory Details: Adventures from the Dark Side of Science by Erika Engelhaupt while on a beach vacation with my family (insert smirk here). I loved this book because it had a little bit of everything for me: Frances Glessner Lee’s true crime miniatures, insect feasts, the horrifying world of the animal kingdom, and vomit-worthy medical practices like the fecal cure (the more you know!). I listened to this on Audible, and the narration was great; plus, the bite-sized chapters make it easy to sneak in the strange and unusual throughout your day.

Next is a recent read, Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Shutt. I remember the first time I saw a real human shrunken head. We all have those memories, right? Nevertheless, that was also the first time I heard about ritualistic cannibalism as a death ritual. It was done to honor one’s ancestors by consuming their flesh to take in their strength and wisdom. As a child, this blew my mind, and it’s no doubt partially responsible for this ghastly yet beguiling journey I’ve been on ever since when it comes to the beautiful grotesque. This book is a deep scientific dive into cannibalism in all its forms and it discusses it from the views of insects, animals, and humans. Bill Schutt is a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and a Professor of Biology (specializing in zoology), so think of this book as a detailed lecture as you walk the taxidermized aisles of your local history museum. I had to stop to look up words, and some of it went over my head, but that’s a good thing because I was genuinely learning and engaging with the text. I highly recommend the experience.

Lastly, we have Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich. I always reference this text when I teach about the witch because it’s a piece of history that has been repressed and hidden from us regarding larger discussions surrounding women’s healthcare.  For readers interested in sociology and feminism, this is an equally important read for you, too, because it speaks to the demonization of witches and midwives in an attempt to squash a primarily matriarchal profession in support of the patriarchy and its ties to the church. And again, this isn’t me on a liberal feminist rant. This is history. This happened. Educate yourselves, and don’t trust everything you read on social media or see in a news headline. We’re always at our most powerful when we’re accurately informed.