Sara L. Latta

On the one hand -- I love the history that this book reveals. I love getting to learn more about this totally amazing woman. I think it's spectacular that she was so unbelievably good at either charming the socks off people or pissing them off, and that's just history, right? People are people and they are complicated. On the other hand, the book trends a little dry, which is surprising given how wild Mary Walker's life was. I think that's partly because the contexts are so complicated. A show more fascinating figure. show less

I Could Not Do Otherwise by Sara Latta is a biography of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who was born in 1832 and fought against societal and political conventions all her life. While the book is about Mary Walker, it contains a wealth of information about not only the national events happening during her life, but about many public figures of the time, particularly other forward-thinking women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Susan B. Anthony. Mary Walker show more personally knew many famous personages of the time. The book is liberally sprinkled with photographs which add to its attractiveness.

Mary Walker was among the first females to graduate from medical school. When the Civil War broke out, she volunteered to be an army surgeon but was refused, despite the desperate need for doctors, because the Army did not have any women. She chose to volunteer as a civilian. She worked near the front lines during major battles, sometimes crossing over into Confederate territory, and eventually spied for the Union. She was captured by the Confederate army, serving four months in one of the most notorious civil war prisons. While there she treated other inmates in the best manner possible under the circumstances. She is the only woman to have received the Medal of Honor and one of only eight civilians to have done so.

Dr. Walker campaigned ceaselessly for a change in conventional women’s clothing. She considered corsets to be bad for women’s health, as they impaired breathing and digestion. She believed the floor-length dresses of the time to be gatherers of dirt and filth. She never wore a corset, and from an early age working on her parent’s farm, she wore a type of pant under a shorter dress. As an adult, she wore pants under shortened dresses, and eventually her manner of dress was nearer to that of men’s dress. She was arrested numerous times for this but was always released from custody.

Dr. Walker was an abolitionist, prohibitionist, and early suffragist. The initial stance of the women’s suffragist movement, following her lead, was to claim that women already had the right to vote, and Congress needed only to enact enabling legislation. Following the war, she became a lecturer and writer. She fell out of favor with the suffragist movement and unfortunately, she has become all but unknown to the world. It is deplorable, as Mary Walker was a multitalented and accomplished woman that everyone should be aware of.

The book is promoted as a young adult book, specifically for ages 13 – 18. At 208 densely filled pages, I am not sure that many young people near the lower end of this age suggestion would finish the book. It is interesting, yes, but so packed with detail that I think many younger readers would lose interest far before the end. At times, the book reads a bit like an encyclopedia entry or history textbook. Some parents might object to a brief section on Dr. Walker’s book, Unmasked, or the Science of Immorality: To Gentlemen. The description of the book contains talk of sex, masturbation, and intersex individuals.

Sara Latta researched her subject very thoroughly which shows in the exhaustive details she includes about Mary Edwards and the 19th century. The book features in-depth Source Notes, Selected Bibliography, and Photo Acknowledgments. Ms. Latta has a smooth writing style which is easy to read. She is clearly a talented writer of non-fiction. show less

YA-only-means-no-gratuitous-erotica, photographs, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, nonfiction, nonviolent-protest, biography, rights, politics, military, physician, eccentric, committed-to-a-cause, abolitionist*****

In spite of being a history geek, I had never heard of this woman, and I am older than dirt. Much is directly from documents in her own words or those of contemporaries. The presentation is clear and with some explanatory show more asides which are appropriate for many people and especially for those with ESL issues who are learning basics of 19th and early 20th century idiosyncrasies. Dr. Walker really put herself out there for the causes she believed in and were definitely in the public good, like the rational dress reform movement, what we today would call basic hygiene, abolition, honorable treatment of prisoners, and women's suffrage. But it all started with the fight to get a medical degree and the right to practice medicine. Note that she is the only woman to have received the U.S.’s highest civilian award: The Medal of Honor.
This book needs to be gifted to school libraries and local public libraries. But put it in the adult section for those of us who were never taught the facts.
I requested and received an e-book copy from Lerner Publishing Group, Zest Books ™ via NetGalley. Thank you! show less

Living in central New York, Dr. Mary Walker was well known to me. Or so I thought. Just reading the first few well-written chapters I learned so much more about her that I can't wait to finish the book.