Book cover of Wonder Drug: The Hidden Victims of America's Secret Thalidomide Scandal

Book description

Longlisted for the Andrew 2024 Carnegie Medal for Non-Fiction

The shocking, never-before-told story of America's thalidomide victims

In Germany on Christmas Day 1956 a baby girl was born without ears. She was the first victim of the notorious thalidomide epidemic. There would be over 10,000 more across 46 countries.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Wonder Drug as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This remarkable story illustrates that if something in healthcare sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I had to stop listening to it before going to sleep because the compelling narrative was keeping me up at night.

The author seamlessly combined this compelling narrative with exceptional research behind the Food and Drug Administration, the heroine who prevented thalidomide approval in the United States, and the catastrophic effects of a pharmaceutical company using loopholes.

Wonder Drug covers the startling untold story of Thalidomide, a sleeping pill, in the USA.

The standard story is that the tenacity of two women Frances Kelsey and Helen Taussig supposedly kept this drug that caused horrific birth defects off the market. The facts are that drug company machinations and FDA incompetence meant thousands of pregnant women had this drug and hundreds of babies were deformed and disappeared.

Kelsey and Taussig had a token triumph, but the company escaped blame, FDA bureaucracy increased dramatically in size, and the bureaucrats seem as tightly enmeshed with companies now as they were in…

If you love Wonder Drug...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Want books like Wonder Drug?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Wonder Drug.

Browse books like Wonder Drug

Book cover of Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Book cover of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
Book cover of You Bet Your Life: From Blood Transfusions to Mass Vaccination, the Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,366

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like Wonder Drug, you might also like...

Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Coyote Weather

Coyote Weather by Amanda Cockrell,

Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.

Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…

5 book lists we think you will like!