The Great Mosquito Hunt and Other Adventures
by Elizabeth Manson-Bahr
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Pub Date 28 Jan 2024 | Archive Date 14 Feb 2024
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Description
This book is the author’s answer to the question Who do you think you are? set in China, Russia, Egypt, Kenya, Fiji and the US during the 18th to 20th centuries. It describes the battle to discover the causes of malaria. Sir Patrick Manson, the author’s great-grandfather, known as Mosquito Manson, was the first scientist to prove that insects were vectors of disease, a discovery which led to the detection of the malarial parasite. He founded the Chinese Medical School in Hong Kong and the London School of Tropical Medicine. Among his pupils was Sun Yat-sen, the first President of modern China.
It is the story too of plagues and pandemics, of Scottish and German merchants who made their fortunes in 19th century Egypt and 18th century Russia. The author’s mother, orphaned by the Spanish flu, made her way to Africa where she served as a FANY in 1942, marrying Clinton, the third in the family line of tropical medical specialists. The chapters are interspersed with the author’s own childhood memories growing up in Fiji and Kenya.
A Note From the Publisher
Available Editions
EDITION | Paperback |
ISBN | 9781805141549 |
PRICE | £12.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 264 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
This is an extraordinarily rich and detailed look at a family devoted to medicine and research over several generations. It is intimate and revealing and particularly poignant because of the author's direct descent and close proximity to members of the Manson, Blessig, Thurburn and Bahr families.
In these pages one is transported to China, Mexico, Switzerland, America, Egypt, Russia, Kenya, Liverpool and the Fiji Islands, but it is much more than a travelogue - it gives one glimpses of Empires rising and falling, war and famine, cannibals on Suva, disease and death at Gallipoli, and the awful human toll of the Spanish 'flu - and through it all the never ending quest to find ways to treat infection and find cures. This evocative tapestry is a backdrop to colonial life and all the personal joy, hardship, pain, grief and triumph of those involved.
The writing is skillful, engaging, endlessly fascinating, and I hope the author has many more adventures to recount.
Elizabeth Manson bar was not only related to those you read about and children and the doubt adventure books she herself lived such a life when historical figures in family friends or household names and ancestors you know you have a blessed existence from royalty to adventurers to doctors that made a difference Elizabeth Manson bars family tree read like a Who’s Who and I loved it all it was so good her ancestors have bumped elbows with the man who started the first women’s medical college in Egypt, her grandfather found the cause for malaria, another Great great grandfather was at the forefront of many Chinese political battles, her mother met her father while being a historical Fannie girl in South Africa during the first war and The author herself lived on a tropical island growing up and was even chased by an elephant and lived to tell about it. this is just a small sample of the great stories in the book. This book is well researched and even more well written. When it was over I wished it would’ve been longer I hope these books become a trend because I found it all so very interesting miss bar has a family tree one can be proud of, as she should be. This book was a great idea in a great execution of that idea a truly fun and interesting read! I want to thank troubadour Books and NetGalley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.