Before Dr. Ludwig Guttmann (1899–1980), there was no treatment for a broken spine; paraplegics were deemed incurable and usually died in a matter of weeks. With clarity and immediacy, ­Alexander tells a riveting story. She ­follows Guttmann, a German Jewish ­neurologist, as he flees Nazi Germany; finds a new home in Oxford, England, where, denied a medical position, he does extensive research on the human nervous system; and finally, near the end of WWII, is assigned to a spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he begins implementing a radical new plan of treatment for soldiers with spinal injuries.