THE FEVER TRAIL: In Search of the Cure for Malaria

Literally Italian for "bad air," malaria once plagued Rome, tropical trade routes and colonial ventures into India and South America—and the disease has no known antidote aside from the therapeutic effects of the "miraculous" quinine. This first book from journalist Honigsbaum is a rousing history of the search for febrifuge—or, more specifically, the rare red cinchona tree, the bark from which quinine is derived. Among the dozens of intrepid explorers, infantrymen and scholars who live out this history—facing at once viciously territorial Peruvians, civil war in Ecuador, botanical sabotage and disastrous competition with nature—Honigsbaum's narrative centers on three significant contributors: Richard Spruce, a botanist who, in spite of his chronically poor health, spent 15 agonizing years searching the Amazon and Andes for the bark; Charles Ledger, a determined trader of cinchona bark and alpaca wool, whose explorations of Bolivia and Chile left him economically devastated; and Sir Clements Markham, so-called father of polar exploration, who successfully transported the plant from Peru. Drawing upon diaries, the history of medicine and fair doses of myth and legend, this tale is impeccably researched; moreover, Honigsbaum's aptitude for clarifying epidemiology and disease organisms is rivaled only by his knack for telling tales of reeling adventure and colonialist history. Maps and notes; photos not seen by PW. (May)