The Sweeping Wind Author:Paul De Kruif As outspoken, vibrant, and as passionately concerned with the truth as the books which brough him fame, Paul de Kruif's memoir is an unsparing personal document. He was a young Ph.D. in the bacteriology lab of the University of Michigan medical school in 1919 when he first met the girl who was to change the course of his life, Rhea Barbarin. He ... more »fell obsessively in love with her, and three years later he ended a promising career at the Rockefeller Institute, determined to make enough money by writing articles and books on science so that he could marry Rhea. His work created an entirely new approach to popular science writing. Starting with the exposure of medical hoaxes and frauds, he soon branched out to dramatic biographies of unknown scientific pioneers, and produced an impressive list of best sellers including Microbe Hunters, Hunger Fighters, Men Against Death. Among the colorful and controversial men who helped him open this field were H. L. Mencken, Morris Fishbein, and Henry Wallace. But his most unpredictable literary adventures was his collaboration with Sinclair Lewis on the novel Arrowsmith. The story of that little-know liaison--told here in full for the first time--sheds new light on Lewis as a man and as a writer. This is a bold and absorbing exploration of the human heart as well as an intimate view of the literary and scientific worlds of four decades.« less