In 1944 a groundbreaking operation repaired the congenital heart defect known as blue baby syndrome.
The operation's success brought the surgeon Alfred Blalock international fame and paved the way for open-heart surgery.
But the technique had been painstakingly developed by Vivien Thomas, Blalock's African American lab assistant, who stood behind Blalock in the operating room to give him step-by-step instructions.
The stories of this medical and social breakthrough and the lives of Thomas, Blalock, and their colleague Dr.
Helen Taussig are intertwined in this compelling nonfiction narrative.
Clarion Books Breakthrough!: how three people saved 'blue babies' and changed medicine forever, hardcover/jim murphy
