The author describes a good story about the birth of the first antibiotic drug – sulfa. Discovered accidentally in the German lab, the early form of sulfa paved the way to all the variants of the antibiotics that followed. In addition, it brought about the current powerful state of US FDA to help reduce the abuses by pharmaceutical companies. The ironic part is that sulfa was born out of the necessity of curing the soldiers in World War I and used extensively in World War II.

The author tells a very interesting story while educating the readers the science of how the antibiotic medicine works. The book also goes into the politics and world as seen by Germans in Hitler’s Germany. In addition, the politics and competitiveness among the drug researchers in the pursuit of the super drug are so vividly described.