Whiggish history, at its worst. This book did contain a lot of information, I just wish Nuland had kept his opinions about how science and medicine "should be" out of it. Also, his writing had far too many poetical flourishes for my taste. It was really quite annoying to hear him go on page-long love notes to the scientific methods of certain surgeons and doctors. I was also annoyed by the focus on surgeons, the inherent Western bias, and the complete absence of any mention of the contributions of nurses to medicine. It should be titled Doctors (Well, Really, Surgeons): The Biography of a Very Small Portion of Western Medicine.