8 Books to Read if You Love The Knick

8 Books to Read if You Love The Knick Steven Soderburghs turn-of-the-century  drama is back for season two, and I am so happy to get  new episodes of this fictional account of a hospital, called The Knickerbocker or The Knick, in New York City, starring Clive Owen as chief surgeon John Thackery. Thackery has a very serious cocaine addiction as well as revolutionary if not mildly terrifying ideas that turn patients into guinea pigs in an age when doctors are only slightly more knowledgable about medicine than barbers. Its totally scratching my well-documented itch  for anything set in turn-of-the-century NYC (season 1 takes place in 1900), and the wait from week to week is agony. Because its Cinemax, there are only 13 episodes in the first season and were only a few episodes into the second, so if youre like me, youre going to want more. Heres a list of books, both fiction and nonfiction, to fill that Victorian hole in your heart: The Alienist  by Caleb Carr: Set in 1896 in New York, a serial killer targeting prostitute is hunted by a society-born reporter and a psychologist.  This and its follow-up are perfect for this niche. The Interpretation of Murder  by Jed Rubenfeld: Sigmund Freud visited Manhattan in 1909, and Rubenfeld reimagines how the psychoanalyst spent his last trip the U.S. Freud  investigates the mind of a murderer who is attacking New Yorks wealthiest heiresses. Fever  by Mary Beth Keane: The search for  Typhoid Mary, who is responsible for a massive outbreak of typhoid fever, is a fascinating side-plot during the first season, and Keane writes a great fictionalized account of the actual Typhoid Mary. Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre  Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted  by Gerald Imber:  The character of Dr. John Thackery is loosely based on Dr. William Stewart Halsted, and this biography is a fascinating examination of his personal and professional life. Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery  by Richard Hollingham:  Though it covers a  broader period than  The Knick,  having a sense of where these surgeons and their work sit in the larger history of medical history is helpful for context. And it does shed some serious light on surgery during the Victorian era. Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City  by Carla L. Peterson:  There arent a whole lot of books out there that examine the kind of systemic racism that  is a large part of the shows plot, but this one gives a broad look at the position of blacks in New York in the century leading up to  The Knicks setting. The Souls of Black Folks  by W.E.B. Du Bois:  Widely considered one of the most essential collections of African American prose, Du Bois published these essays in 1903, and they provide great insight (in combination with the title above) as to the context of race in New York at that time. (Also, if you havent read this already, get to it already!) Dr. Mutters Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine  by  Cristin OKeefe Aptowicz:  Often described as the P.T. Barnum of the surgical theater, Dr. Mutters flamboyant approach to medicine is a great primer for appreciating Dr. Thackerys methods. *Bonus: if you want more good history about this era, I highly recommend checking out The Bowery Boys podcast. They cover all periods of NYC history, but theyre live tweeting episodes of The Knick  and theyve got a number of episodes about topics covered on the show, plus they have a great archive of photos on the site.