PositiveThe Wall Street JournalArtfully blend a history of the eye cosmetic with an emotive treatment of makeup’s relation to the self ... A thoughtful, unlikely romp across the world, viewing a small but significant part of cultural history, through a keen (and boldly defined) eye. Ms. Hankir is at her best when examining people at close range, interviewing a subject or writing about herself. Her book is very early-millennial in tone; it will be most congenial to those who embrace online popular culture.
Lucy Ward
PositiveThe Wall Street JournalAll the descriptions of lancet cuts and pus are one thing—it is the experimentation on impoverished children that makes for painful reading ... a detailed account of a specific encounter, with fully fleshed reporting on a specific moment when two lives come into contact through the fear and treatment of a dreadful disease. More than anything, it is a biography of the birth of vaccination. As such, it is a deft and captivating chronicle of an opportune subject. How much is familiar to us now: the balance of risk in parental love; the limited power of statistics over the masses ... Ms. Ward, a former politics reporter, writes in journalistic prose that occasionally lapses into management- or even street-speak—\'top-down,\' \'and the rest.\' And I railed at the idea of Catherine being considered quite so brave when she had random children to test on and had the education to grasp the statistical probabilities of inoculation versus disease. Still, this is an undoubtedly energetic and timely account of a man and woman united in their mission to advance science to save lives, including their own.
