Antoine Lavoisier reinvented chemistry, overthrowing the long-established principles of alchemy and inventing an entirely new terminology, one still in use by chemists.
Madison Smartt Bell’s enthralling narrative reads like a race to the finish line, as the very circumstances that enabled Lavoisier to secure his reputation as the father of modern chemistry—a considerable fortune and social connections with the likes of Benjamin Franklin—also caused his glory to be cut short by the French Revolution.
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“Portrays a visionary who freed chemistry from its alchemical roots, helped establish the practice of systematic experimentation, and isolated and named oxygen…Writing with equal panache about scientific breakthroughs and social upheaval…Bell portrays Lavoisier and his gifted wife with admiration and empathy.”
— Booklist
“A two-part thriller. The first describes Lavoisier’s successful effort to win the race to explain how chemical processes work; the second, his pursuit by French revolutionaries.”
— New York Times Book Review“Bell succeeds, not only in depicting the rigorousness of Lavoisier’s method, but also in conveying a sense of his character.”
— Los Angeles Times Book Review“Full of suspense and intrigue set against a backdrop of war and revolution…the story of a well-intentioned and honorable man caught up in events beyond the comprehension of his formidable intellect…Bell uses his novelistic skills in the service of narrative and character to keep Lavoisier’s story fresh.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Madison Smartt Bell is the award-winning author of short-story collections, novellas, five works of nonfiction, and nineteen works of fiction. His All Souls’ Rising won of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pen/Faulkner Prize. He won a Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a professor of English at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.