The first Americans to work with the people of the Middle East were neither spies nor soldiers. They were, in fact, teachers, printers, and missionaries; and one was a country doctor from Utica, NY. In June of 1835 Asahel Grant, M.D. and his bride, Judith, sailed from Boston to heal the sick and save the world. Fever and Thirst tells the story of Asahel Grant: explorer, physician, author and the first American to become enmeshed in the struggles of northern Iraq.