On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service

Covering the beginning, middle, and current state of the career of one of the most influential men in American medicine in the last century is not an easy task. Fauci manages to cover his in splendid detail, candidly describing the moments that led to the opportunities of being involved in major epidemics such as AIDS, SARS, Ebola, and COVID. He covers his Brooklyn upbringing, which occurred at the hands of the sisters in the parish in Brooklyn to the back-room politics in Washington, DC, as he negotiated the creation and approval of vaccines that would save millions of lives. This is an incredible story of an extraordinary life. Unfortunately, the author also narrates. While Fauci has expertise in both medicine and in politics, he lacks the skill to know when to pause, inflect, and present the words of a book for an audience, which detracts from the fascinating story being presented.