I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of The Doctors’ Riot of 1788 by Andy McPhee and it took me on a curious and enlightening journey through the history of how anatomy has been studied, particularly with the practice of body snatching, and the ways in which morality has been challenged and weighed against the benefit to humanity the dissection of cadavers provides to the medical field.

McPhee’s ability to explain history without it feeling like a drag is something I always appreciate. I love learning about history, but it can easily creep over into territory where I find it hard to keep my eyes open, but McPhee kept me engaged as I learned about how rampant body snatching had been in the 1700s. McPhee also excels at finding the balance between being very descriptive but not going over the top when describing medical practices, the process of decomposition, and more. I can personally handle gruesome descriptions, but I did not have to worry about that at all here with the perfect amount of details to gain perspective.

If I had one major critique, there were a handful of moments providing an almost over-explanation as to who someone in U.S. Revolutionary history was and their contributions to the creation of the country, but with no or little ties to how they were involved in the discussion and practices around the practice of body snatching. While it did provide context, and there is something to be said about how the overall time period affected the medical field, it seemed a bit disconnected at times.

With that said, I did learn quite a few fun facts about some historical figures that I did not know before, which leads me to ask, how come Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t have a song in Hamilton about the time he helped try to calm down the thousands of rioters attempting to find and potentially kill anatomy students?

This book will be great for those who love to learn about history that is off the beaten path that you probably won’t ever hear about in a history class.

Overall, I give this book a 4 out 5 stars! Look out for it on shelves in early January 2026!