The #1 internationally bestselling, gripping true story of a frontline trauma surgeon operating in the world’s most dangerous war zones.
For more than 25 years, surgeon David Nott has volunteered in some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993 to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major metropolitan hospital. Nott is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world.
War Doctor is his extraordinary story, encompassing his surgeries in nearly every major conflict zone since the end of the Cold War, as well as his struggles to return to a “normal” life and routine after each trip. At times, Nott’s riveting memoir reads like a travelogue of the world’s cruelty—he has volunteered in Afghanistan, Congo, Darfur, Gaza, Iraq, Libya, Sierra Leone, and Yemen—but it’s also an uplifting and deeply compassionate story about the brave medical professionals trying to combat evil and heal their patients despite the terrible circumstances.
Culminating in his trips to war-torn Syria—and the untold story of his efforts to help evacuate some 50,000 people from Aleppo—War Doctor is a heart-stopping and moving blend of medical memoir, personal journey, and nonfiction thriller that provides unforgettable, at times raw, insight into the human toll of war.
Praise
“Surgeons in training and those looking for a fly-on-the-wall perspective of nontraditional treatment centers in violence-stricken areas will find themselves fully engaged in Nott’s firsthand accounts.”Library Journal
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"A series of gripping and fascinating medical stories."Kirkus
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". . . remarkable memoir. . . Nott relates his extensive knowledge of trauma surgery and medicine to the events he writes about in a fluid prose style that is readily understandable to readers outside the health-care profession. The result is a remarkably powerful personal and expert account of the drastic toll war exacts on human beings and a stirring bringing-to-light of the many ways people behind the scenes help mitigate the damage."Booklist
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