The Flying Death
Poison, Plunder, and the Quest for a Miracle Medicine in the Amazon
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Pub Date Nov 10 2026 | Archive Date Nov 10 2026
Description
A dramatic tale of explorers of the 1930s racing to find and harvest a poisonous Amazon vine, and how their work plundered local tribes and spurred the invention of new medicines.
In the fall of 1938, a young, frail American explorer set off down a river in the western Amazon in search of curare, a poison he thought might save his life. Richard Gill had learned that local tribes used curare-laced blow darts to kill animals, but it was also potentially a cure for many ailments, including his own. He also thought he could make a fortune by connecting the knowledge of two worlds. Obsessed with curare, he raced to make deals with Indigenous poison masters in the Amazon and pharmaceutical companies back home, even as his Russian-born rival Boris Krukoff sought to do the same.
In The Flying Death, the historian Matt O'Hara asks who and what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of discovery and profit. O'Hara brings to life Gill's epic quest, a stranger-than-fiction true story that moves from unexplored territory in the Amazon to rogue medical trials and cutthroat corporate boardrooms in the United States. Navigating treacherous terrain and politics, Gill and Krukoff successfully created a veritable curare–industrial complex, as the plant became a key element in shock therapy, transformed surgery in the United States and across the globe, and eventually led to a Nobel Prize. The Flying Death offers a thrilling ride across Indigenous knowledge, scientific exploration, and exploitation, unearthing a story of discovery that poses searching questions about the price of progress, who pays it, and who gets credit.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
“Compulsively readable, well structured, historically informative, and entertainingly written. The Flying Death tells the story of how a modern-day miracle drug was born out of an Amazonian blowgun poison thanks to the efforts of a motley crew of fortune-seeking adventurers—a crew that included a handful of unscrupulous medical researchers, an obsessive White Russian émigré, and an American storyteller with big dreams.” —JON LEE ANDERSON, author of Che: A Revolutionary Life
“The Flying Death is as gripping as the exotic poison at its heart. Matt O’Hara is a master researcher who brews a tale at the frontiers of scientific discovery, with healthy doses of ambition and adventure mixed in. This is historical narrative nonfiction at its best.” —MITCHELL ZUCKOFF, author of Lost in Shangri-La
“Matt O’Hara has uncovered the thrilling true story of Richard Gill, a sickly American explorer who ventured into the Amazon in 1938—and ended up transforming medicine. Moving from jungle rivers and poison-masters to medical trials and corporate boardrooms, O’Hara offers a gripping, exciting, and deeply researched adventure story about ambition, exploitation, and the true cost of medical breakthroughs.” —CHARLES DUHIGG, author of The Power of Habit
“The Flying Death, Matt O’Hara’s brilliant tale of the South American poison curare, is a wild ride driven by courage, mystery, pharmaceutical wrongdoing, and Indigenous wisdom. The story will surprise you, infuriate you—and it will definitely make you smarter.” —DEBORAH BLUM, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook
“An unforgettable tale of medicine, ambition, greed, and the natural world, The Flying Death is a true page-turner. Matt O’Hara is a tenacious historian who writes with great skill and with a keen eye for human drama and injustice.” —HECTOR TOBAR, author of Deep Down Dark
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780374609214 |
| PRICE | $32.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 400 |