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Loading... No Man's Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War Iby Wendy Moore
Great Britain (43) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This history tells the story of the Endell Street Hospital during WWI, a hospital staffed entirely by women. The doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson had already broken barriers by becoming doctors and suffragettes, but at the outbreak of war, they set up at hospital first in France, then in London, to treat injured soldiers. This book offered an new view of the war and the role of women. I found it engaging, enlightening, and informative, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this era. As a woman and a nurse who served in the military, though not in war time, I am in awe of these women doctors, nurses and ordered who served in such primitive conditions in WWI. I know little of WWI , the suffragettes movement in England and the 1918 flu pandemic but because of the events of 2020 I have, of course, looked to the past to understand today. This book covers the struggles of Dr. Flora Murry and Louisa Garret Anderson as suffragettes and doctors to obtain the vote for women and equal rights for women under the law. The way women were treated and still are is appalling. By the way, women in England did not get full access to medical school unto 1975!!! Another fun fact, Louisa Garrett Anderson was the daughter of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson the first female doctor in England. Until WWI the few female doctors there were were regulated to treating women and children only and barely paid. WWI begins, the Army run by men, is proved to be incompetent and the medical core is overwhelmed the first day and thousands of wounded die for lack of care. Enter Dr's. Murray and Anderson and their staff and they open a model hospital under the French Red Cross and start saving lives. Other women also come to the rescue of the wounded with hospitals and ambulance. What Dr's. Murray and Anderson face is heart wrenching. Get the tissues out as you read the stories about these brave women treating these brave soldiers. Be angry at the government's and the paper pushers who stood in the way of get getting things done for the better. Be angry at the stupidity of 20 million people dying over a strip of land in France which is what it boiled down to though not all died right there. I digress. Dr's. Murray and Anderson did so much good in France they were tapped to open a 575 bed hospital in London for the wounded. Though most of the military doubted they would be successful their hospital and their satellite hospital turned out to be the best hospitals in London for the wounded. Prepare to be awed by the staff's commitment to the wounded working long hours 7 days a week with few breaks to serve their country and the wounded with food being rationed no less. They had to deal with infections and no antibiotics, lice and no bug killer, war wounds and no fancy equipment, summer and winter with no central heat and air. The stories are unbelievable. I could not put the book down. I could not have done it. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for a review. no reviews | add a review
"In September 1914, a month after the outbreak of the First World War, two British doctors, Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson, set out for Paris. There, they built a makeshift hospital in Claridge's, the luxury hotel, and treated hundreds of casualties carted in from France's battlefields. Until this war called men to the front, female doctors had been restricted to treating only women and children. But even skeptical army officials who visited Flora and Louisa's Paris hospital sent back glowing reports of their practice. Their wartime hospital was at the cutting edge of medical care -- they were the first to use new antiseptic and the first to use x-ray technology to locate bullets and shrapnel. In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Even as medical schools still denied them entry, Suffragettes across the country put down their bricks to volunteer, determined to prove the value of female doctors. Within months, Flora and Louisa were invited by the British Army to set up two more hospitals-the first in northern France and the second a major military hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the "Suffragettes' Hospital," Endell Street became renowned as "the best hospital in London," thanks to its pioneering treatments and reputation for patriotism. It was also one of the liveliest, featuring concerts, tea parties, pantomimes, and picnics, in addition to surgeries. Moreover, Flora and Louisa were partners in life as well as in work. While they struggled to navigate the glass ceiling of early twentieth-century medical care, they also grappled with the stresses and joys of their own relationship. But although Flora, Louisa, and Endell Street effectively proved that women doctors could do the work of men, when the war was over, doors that had been opened were slammed shut. Women found themselves once more relegated to treating only women and children, and often in the poorest neighborhoods. It was not until World War II that women were again permitted to treat men. Drawing from letters, memoirs, diaries, army service records, and interviews, Moore brings these remarkable women and their patients to life and reclaims this important, spirited history. At a time when women are campaigning as hard as ever for equality, the fortitude and brilliance of Flora and Louisa serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds."--
"The inspiring story of two pioneering suffragette doctors who ran the only military hospital staffed entirely by women during World War I-and who transformed medicine in the process. A month after war broke out in 1914, doctors Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson set out for Paris, where they opened a hospital in a luxury hotel and treated hundreds of casualties plucked from France's battlefields. Although, prior to the war, female doctors were restricted to treating women and children, Flora and Louisa's work was so successful that the British Army asked them to set up a hospital in the heart of London. Nicknamed the Suffragettes' Hospital, Endell Street soon became known for its lifesaving treatments and lively atmosphere. In No Man's Land, Wendy Moore illuminates this turbulent moment when women were, for the first time, allowed to operate on men. Their fortitude and brilliance serve as powerful reminders of what women can achieve against all odds."-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.47541History and Geography Europe Europe Military History Of World War I Prisons, hospitals, charities Medical department, surgeons, nurses EuropeLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Then, the war was over. The Endell Street Hospital was asked to stay open almost another year, this time to care for the torrent of Spanish flu victims. And once that was done... it was business as usual. The medical schools slammed the doors shut again on women trainees, hospitals refused to hire them. Only after persistent and vocal activism were the women granted the same tax-exempt status as the male doctors had been given. The postwar secretary of war wrote a scathing letter to the Medical Women's Foundation, citing the "unrefutable fact that women cannot adequately perform men's tasks," that men will refuse to be treated by women (ask those 20,000 soldiers...), and their services are not and will not be of use in the future. Thanks a lot, Winston Churchill.
Some of the women went back to treating women and children, or found other "back room" positions in pathology or research. Some married. Most of them looked back on their years at Endell as the most exciting, challenging, and satisfying period of their lives.
It's a great story, and this book should serve as a significant reference in the history of medicine and The Great War. That said, for readers looking for a gripping read, this may not be your cup of tea - detail is voluminous and frequently repetitive. How many times must one use the phrase "patched up," or describe the nurses and doctors rousted from their beds in the wee hours, or the songs sung at the regular entertainments staged? Knife Man had a tighter focus on one individual, the eccentric, difficult and brilliant anatomist John Hunter; No Man's Land has a huge operation, a sprawling cast of characters, a global war and epidemic, and an era of social upheaval to cover, so it too is a much more sprawling and chaotic book. May not be page-turning bedtime reading, but an important book for those with a particular interest in its subjects. ( )