" Send Us A Lady Physician" Women Doctors in America 1835-1920

By: Abram, Ruth

Book Overview

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, women, who had hitherto been barred from medical schools, were gradually granted the freedom to study and practice medicine. Indeed, by 1900, over 7,000... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393022749
• ISBN13: 9780393022742
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W.
• Length: 255 Pages
• Weight: 2.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.0" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Well documented history, nicely ill., nice bib., fascinating insights

In every way, this is a fascinating and illuminating read. Wonderful photographic illustrations, bibliography, and quotes from source materials. Well researched from documents in public and private collections, Abram's work is a history of medicine as well as of women in the profession. Barely 150 years ago, the practice of medicine was considered generally undignified. There was no professional oversight; there were no universal standards of practice or care; there were no accepted practices for distinguishing between placebo, effective treatment, and harmful measures. Gradually, practitioners began to work to establish such standards. Abrams traces the history of various medical traditions, many of which still exist, with varying levels of efficacy and of public acceptance -- e.g., osteopathy, naturopathy, and others -- as well as the success (and reasons for the success) of what is now known as "regular" medicine. Within this context of the development of the regular practice, Abrams presents the history of women in the profession. The history of women in medicine is not merely a linear progression of ever-increasing acceptance, as has occurred in recent years, but a complex route which matches pace, and also twists and turns, with the development of the various competing practices. Abram compares and contrasts the experiences of traditional women healers, women excluded during the early years of "regular" medicine, and women now working in the regular medical profession, both in developing nations as well as in developed Western nations. Finally, Abram addresses the personal and professional histories of specific women who served as pioneers in regular medicine during those early, developmental years in the U.S. Although "Send Us A Lady Physician" seems to be addressed to a youthful audience -- as it is a thin volume evidently designed to maintain visual interest -- there is much to recommend it to the general audience. This is a lovely resource which covers material not addressed elsewhere and thus reveals connections which would not otherwise be easily recognized. Informative and insightful. Fascinating!