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Now known as a disease of the tropics, malaria also badly weakened the Roman Empire. It killed thousands of British troops fighting Napoleon during the Walcheren raid on Holland in 1809 and many soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War. Even today, malaria kills someone every twelve seconds.

Following a calamitous outbreak of malaria in Rome, 17th century Catholic missionaries set out to travel the world in search of a cure. In Quinine, author Fiammetta Rocco has created a fascinating tale that is part history and part scientific detective story. Rocco illustrates the devastating nature of malaria and the many changes brought about by the introduction of quinine, a cure that is still in use today.

Fiammetta Rocco and her family moved to Kenya in 1929, where she, her father and her grandfather all suffered from malaria. Ms. Rocco is an investigative journalist who has won a number of awards in the United States and Britain. She lives in London, where she is a literary editor at the Economist. This is her first book.

"An engrossing story ... written with immense verve and confidence, in a prose that succeeds in being both crisp and fluent ... a gripping and highly readable tale." -- New York Times Book Review