Contact Wounds: A War Surgeon's Education

by Jonathan Kaplan

Surgery is the crude art of cutting people open, yet it is also a symphony of delicate manipulation and subtle chords. So says Jonathan Kaplan in his stunning book Contact Wounds , an electrifying account of a doctor’s education in the classroom, in life, and on the battlefield. Inspired by his father, a military surgeon in World War II and Israel’s nascent fight for statehood, Kaplan became a doctor and was appointed to a post at a woefully understaffed South African general hospital in a black township. Fleeing apartheid, he traveled the globe in search of sanctuary, experiencing riots, tropical fevers, political upheaval, and a jungle search for a lost friend. Kaplan eventually landed in Angola, taking charge of a combat-zone hospital, the only surgeon for 160,000 civilians, where he was exposed daily to the horrors of war. Journeying further into dangerous territory, Kaplan portrays serving as a volunteer surgeon in Baghdad—where he treated civilian casualties amid gunfights for control of hospitals and dealt with gangs of AK-47-wielding looters stripping pharmacies. Contact Wounds is a stirring testament of adventure, discovery, survival, and the making of a career devoted to saving people caught in the crossfire of war.

Genres: Nonfiction, Medical, Medicine, Biography, Memoir, Africa, War

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian note: There are multiple authors with this name on GR. This profile is for Jonathan^Kaplan, South African surgeon.

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as the Dressing Station. Similar format and fills in some of the gaps from the previous book. This one better explains and examines his motivations per the time he spends in Isreal as a teen. Powerful chapter on time spent in Iraq after 9/11. Philosophical. I love his writing and his detached compassion combined with his worldly demeanor. I wish more people knew about and were reading these books. Loads of insights, painful and profound but even funny sometimes. What a life!

[James Horgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jonathan Kaplan has lived a full life, generously giving of his skills surgically treating many injured victims in conflict zones.

From a secular Jewish South African family of medics, the book takes us from his childhood, through time as a teen in an Israeli kibbutz and medical training after which he left for England. He then developed skills serving in war zones, some of which are covered in an earlier book. Here he recounts time in Angola and Iraq.

There is no overriding narrative thread, and the chapters read as isolated episodes, journalistic in style. The chaos of war zones, particularly Iraq, is prominent, along with the complexities of trying to save lives in under-equipped, ransacked hospitals.

He has also worked as a documentary maker and one chapter focusses on the disappearance of a friend who worked with him in Madagascar.

Kaplan's own life seems a trifle sad. He has had a number of relationships but none seem to have lasted.

Mainly a book for those with an interest in this type of medicine who would enjoy a light read.

[Marion Roux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up and down liking of the book and writing style

[Heino Colyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't familiar with Jonathan Kaplan before picking up this book, and although I struggled through the first couple of pages I came to really enjoy his writing. Large sections read like travel writing with a relatively detailed history of the situations in which he finds himself. The general tone and Kaplan's insights made the backdrop of war less depressing and I am looking forward to reading The Dressing Station: A Surgeon's Chronicle of War and Medicine in the future.

[Leo Africanus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful reflections of a South African war surgeon. Wonderfully interlaces politics, travel writing and life in general with his gritty medical experiences.

[Amanda Patterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reall depressing but a worthwhile read.