The Book Prize Index

The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine

Lindsey Fitzharris

A dramatic account of how 19th-century Quaker surgeon Joseph Lister developed an antiseptic method that indelibly changed medicine, describes the practices and risks of early operating theaters as well as the belief systems of Lister's contemporaries.

Medicine & Public HealthMedicine & Public Health · medium confidenceMedicine & Public Health81 signalsLlm Classifier: Medicine & Public Health -> Medicine & Public HealthKeyword Classifier: Arts & Criticism -> Arts & CriticismTopic Classifier: Art, Music & Performance -> Arts & CriticismArt, Music & PerformanceEssays & Cultural CriticismMedicine, Health & the BodyIntellectual History & Ideas

Award History

1 wins · 3 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award2018WinnerSecondary source
Wolfson History PrizeMajor2018ShortlistOfficial source
Wellcome Book Prize: Nonfiction2018ShortlistSecondary source
View all award history (3)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • Joseph Lister92%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Joseph Lister developed an antiseptic method that indelibly changed medicine, shaped by the practices, risks, and belief systems of Victorian operating theaters.

    Model confidence 74%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    35 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 78%.