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Additional Praise for In The Blood

Publishers Weekly

Astonishing and often disturbing. This story of innovation and persistence merits a wide audience.

Military.com

An engrossing and fascinating history of [a] simple but miraculous discovery, as well as the personal stories of the unsung heroes who fought to get it into medical kits the world over.

Undark Magazine

Fascinating, propulsive. A medical David and Goliath thriller.

Tom Frieden

Important and inspiring story about the invention of a life-saving blood clotting product and the struggle to save lives from injuries on the battlefield and everywhere. A terrific read.

Tom Frieden, MD, Director of the CDC under President Obama

WNPR

Pulse-quickening. Charles Barber is a master storyteller. A remarkable book about a remarkable story.

Colin McEnroe, WNPR

ScienceNews

Fast-paced, races like a thriller. Barber leads readers on the path from product invention to implementation -- and it's a treacherous journey.

Kirkus Reviews

A classic American success story ... Inspiring.

Harvard Magazine

Barber, a riveting storyteller, recounts the invention of a revolutionary way to prevent traumatic death from hemorrhagic bleed-outs—an urgent need in military combat—and the U.S. Army’s resistance to adopting it.

BookAnon

A story of an almost literal garage inventor who finds and develops a substance that has literal world changing powers. Barber tells a story at least as motivational as anything has ever been told about Alan Turing. Very highly recommended.

East Hampton Star

"In the Blood" dramatizes the inertia of established power and the arrogance of persons in high office versus the creative individual ... A page-turner.

Robert Kolker

In the Blood is an amazing, all-too-true underdog story with intensely high stakes — thousands of lives in the balance. Medical miracles don’t happen overnight, and Charles Barber’s suspenseful storytelling helps us see and feel the struggle and frustration, the sweat and tears. The result is inspiring.

Robert Kolker, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road

American College of Emergency Physicians

Fascinating, fast-paced, A compelling story of power struggles and corporate greed and honest people getting caught up in multi-million dollar gamesmanship.

Jeff Hobbs

In the Blood is that wonderful kind of true story that is at times utterly unbelievable. Yet Charles Barber’s deep research and graceful prose turns it into something even greater: a portrait of an unlikely yet perfect friendship, a testament to the marriage of ingenuity and salesmanship, a fierce interrogation of groupthink, and a tribute to the courage of American soldiers and corpsmen. The story is inspiring, yet so many moments left me shaken.

Jeff Hobbs, author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace

Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute

The storytelling is masterful. In the Blood is a study of both remarkable success and utter failure with innovation. It should be on the service chiefs’ reading lists.

Alex Kotlowitz

The story Charles Barber tells in In the Blood crept up on me, grabbed me by the lapels and wouldn’t let me go. I found myself rooting for these two unlikely friends who face off against the greed and hubris of those with considerably more power and resources. It’s an astonishing tale, so deftly told, by turns unsettling and inspiring.

Alex Kotlowitz, best-selling author of There Are No Children Here

News

In the Blood  has been been named a finalist, PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing and an Amazon “Editor’s Pick” for Best Books of the 2023 So Far.

May 30, 2023 Wall Street Journal reviews In the Blood: “The captivating, often cinematic story of how a medical innovation was improbably developed, fiercely resisted, and ultimately adopted…. the most powerful aspect of “In the Blood” is its deeply empathetic sketches of the key figures, typically men who grew up with limited resources, who endured hard times, and who somehow forged a life for themselves and persisted in the face of adversity.”

C-SPAN Book-TV broadcast the June 23, 2023 event discussing the science of IN THE BLOOD at the Ecotarium Museum in Worcester, MA.  https://ecotarium.org

Appearance on WNPR’s Colin McEnroe show June 1, 2023: https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/2023-05-30/how-two-connecticut-outsiders-transformed-treatment-for-traumatic-blood-loss-and-foughttps://bookanon.com/2023/04/27/bookreview-in-the-blood-by-charles-barber/ht-army-insiders