First sentence: Three little girls in long, gray Quaker-like gowns, and white dimity bonnets, were walking with their governess and talking quite seriously.
Premise/plot: The First Woman Doctor is a biography of Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. Over half of the book focuses on her struggle to get higher education. At the time no college or university were accepting women into their programs. A woman doctor?! a woman surgeon?! The idea was laughable, right?! Sure women can be nurses--but nursing isn't a skilled profession! Blackwell is confident, bold, determined, stubborn, diligent. She will be a doctor. She will get an education. Some way, some how she will prove herself. The other half of the book focuses on her life as a doctor. She was determined to help other women become doctors and nurses. She was also determined to help those in the poorest community, the ones who needed medical care the most and were unable to get it.
My thoughts: I enjoyed this one for the most part. The last few chapters were VERY rushed. Most of the biography focuses on four or five years of her life. But the last few chapters speeds through DECADES at a pace that is dizzying and slightly confusing. One gets a good idea of who she was as a person. I do wish that some of the relationships were better explored. This one does a LOT of name-dropping but no 'characterization.'
This biography was originally written in 1944. I wonder if any young girls read this and were inspired to become doctors? It would be nice to think so.
© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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