Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles & Practice of Nineteenth-Century Surgery Hardcover – Illustrated, November 23, 2015

I am thrilled to own this book. I am writing a Regency-era novel in which the protagonist is a surgeon. I have read numerous books on surgery published in the early 1800's, few of which provide illustrations of surgical procedures. Richard Barnett's book is a goldmine. It allows me to confirm many aspects related to 19th-century surgery: hand positions, the types of instruments used for various procedures, the positioning of limbs or the tongue or the eye, the location of tendons and the great vessels. Every single page, excepting the back matter and pages 18 and 19 of the Introduction, contains at least one illustration; most contain two or three, and a few, fifteen or more. Barnett's text addresses many of the topics I am most interested in: antiseptics, pain management in the era before truly safe anesthesia, and the history of surgical practice. There is something new to see on every page. When I first flipped to the section on the abdomen, I found a large, magnificent illustration of the mesentery and the transverse colon, both mentioned in my novel. I was delighted! This is a remarkable book and will interest anyone interested in 19th-century surgery.

We've come a long way, baby. Never has this been made more apparent than in this completely horrifying book about surgical practices of yore.Oh, yes! Full color illustrations of everything you can imagine going wrong with the human body. And the surgical instruments!Its astounding anyone actually survived.The illustrations are incredible and the text is informative.

This book is a great compilation of illustrations. Would be a fantastic purchase for anybody in your life who is in medicine. Not for the squeamish, but a fantastic history to surgery in the nineteenth century. Highly recommend - especially as a gift.

my boyfriend is a medicine student and he loved this book!!: it has pretty good and detailed images, even better than the ones in some of his official textbooks , maybe the content of the book cannot be used as a reference for his classes, but definitely is quite a nice book with amazing well-detailed pictures

Book itself came in immaculate shape. Very reminiscent of old school medical texts. Amazing illustrations and very informative. Make sure the cloth side of the book doesnt get dusty, it's a little hard to wipe down. Loved it. Worth every penny and very well priced at 14 bucks.

Provocatively intriguing piece of literature. In my "heading" I mentioned for the "Healthcare Professional," however I do believe it appeals to a wider audience. The text, in conjunction with the beautiful and brilliant illustrations/pictures, really capture the Historical aspect of what could be labeled as our torrid medical past practices that helped direct and shape today's medicine.

This Book is Beautifully Illustrated and I will be using it to better my knowledge of the Human Anatomy and for Artistic Purposes.Thank you for selling it and I’m thrilled that I purchased it.

Focused on old surgical techniques. Detailed illustrations, not for squeamish. Great coffee table book. Made a great gift.