Mezrich, Joshua D. When Death Becomes Life: Notes from a Transplant Surgeon. New York: Harper, 2019.

Mezrich, a transplant surgeon at Wisconsin weaves the history of his field into her personal journey as a transplant surgeon.  Incorporating patient anecdotes from the earliest operations to the present, Mezrich tells a face-paced story that hits key moments of the past all the while showing how important they are to the care of patients in the present.

Other reading:

The literature on Lister and Listerism is voluminous.  The standard biography remains by his nephew (and thus a bit hagiographic):  Rickman John Godlee, Lord Lister (London:  MacMillan and Co, 1917).  For a more critical analysis of how Lister fits into the germ theory of disease, see Christopher Lawrence and Richard Dixey, “Practising on Principle:  Joseph Lister and the Germ Theories of Disease,” in Medical Theory, Surgical Practice:  Studies in the History of Surgery ed. Christopher Lawrence (New York:  Routledge, 1992) 153-214.  There are numerous articles describing its (slow) acceptance in various countries, viz., Upmalis, I. H.  “The Introduction of Lister’s Treatment in Germany.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 42 (1968):  221-240; Lindsay Granshaw, “Upon this Principle I have based a practice:  the development and reception of antisepsis in Britain, 1867-1890,” in John V. Pickstone, ed., Medical Innovations in Historical Perspective 1992; 17-46; Thomas Gariepy, “the introduction and acceptance of Listerian Antisepsis in the United States,” JHMAS 49 (1994):  167-206; Roland, Charles G.  “The Early Years of Antiseptic Surgery in Canada.”  Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (Oct 1967):  380-391.