Almost the first task before me when I took on my present duties was to allocate the books sent in for review. It was a delight to me to be able to claim droit de seigneur on this scholarly chronicle, describing the antecedents and activities of one of the founders of pancreatic surgery and written by one of the greats of the last century.
The author traces ten generations of the Whipple family to Essex, whence Matthew Whipple emigrated in 1638. The man behind the mask is made human and his origins in a missionary family living in Persia (now Iran) are described in detail. The man who made pancreaticduodenectomy an accepted surgical treatment was 8 years old when he first saw an electric light and 20 years when the motor car was invented. He grew up in an isolated, but close-knit, family before returning to his homeland to study medicine in the mid 1900s.
There are chapters describing Whipple's progress through the First World War, his early academic career and several significant surgical developments of the early 20th century. Of course, the development of the operation that now bears Whipples's name is described in detail. Codovilla and Kausch, the Italian and German originators of the procedure, are acknowledged but progress to reliable surgery depended on animal experimentation to develop reliable anastomotic techniques and development of measures to counter the coagulation deficits.
This book is much more than a simple historical record. It is full of illuminating vignettes and personal tributes from those who worked with Whipple. The later chapters describe his considerable efforts after retirement from surgery to establish a medical centre in Iran and his training of NATO surgeons during the Cold War. The reader gets to know not only the life and times but also the man.