Even as bacteria build up resistance to our stock of life-saving drugs, researcher Matt McCarthy is on the front lines of clinical trials testing a new antibiotic to fight these lethal superbugs. Here McCarthy explores the history of bacteria and antibiotics, from Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin to the cutting-edge DNA manipulation known as CRISPR, to show we how we arrived at this juncture of both incredible breakthrough and extreme vulnerability. We also meet the patients whose lives are hanging in the balance, from Remy, a teenager with a dangerous and rare infection, to Donny, a retired New York City firefighter with a compromised immune system.

"An amazing, informative book that changes our perspective on medicine, microbes and our future."—Siddhartha Mukherjee