February 8th Luncheon: Matt O'Hara

About the Book:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374609221/theflyingdeath/#

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.

About the Author:

Matt O’Hara is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the award-winning author of many journal articles and two books, The History of the Future in Colonial Mexico and A Flock Divided: Race, Religion, and Politics in Mexico, 1749–1857.

About the Luncheon

• Doors Open: 11:30 a.m.

• Location: TBD

• Books: Registrants will pick up their books at the luncheon.

• Guests: Non-members are welcome to attend up to one luncheons per season. Members may bring with them an unlimited number of non-member guests, as long as the guests, individually, abide by the above Non-member Guest policy.

• Registration: Pre-registration is required. 

• Payment: Pre-payment is required.

• Cancellation Policy: Refunds will not be allowed for cancellations received after registration closes, and no-shows.