I got introduced to this by way of Derek Lowe's blog:

https://www.science.org/blogs/pipeline

and I really enjoyed it.

The same site also has a PDF version of "Ignition!" which is both darn interesting and a lot funnier than a history of the early days of liquid fuel rocket propellants has a right to be.

Memoir of a man in the industrial chemistry business in the mid-1900's.

Accidental self-poisonings working with minimal safety measures (keeping the window open), etc.

A story from the time before safety mattered.