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Florence Nightingale: The Woman and Her Legend
Winner of the Elizabeth Longford prize for Historical Biography
Whether honoured and admired or criticized and ridiculed, Florence Nightingale has invariably been misrepresented and misunderstood. As the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal and one that is permanently lodged in our national consciousness. But the awesome scale of her achievements over the course of her 90 years is infinitely more troubling - and inspiring - than this mythical simplification.
From her tireless campaigning and staggering intellectual abilities to her tortured relationship with her sister and her distressing medical condition, this vivid and immensely readable biography draws on a wealth of unpublished material and previously unseen family papers, disentangling the myth from the reality and reinvigorating with new life one of the most iconic figures in modern British history.
Whether honoured and admired or criticized and ridiculed, Florence Nightingale has invariably been misrepresented and misunderstood. As the Lady with the Lamp, ministering to the wounded and dying of the Crimean War, she offers an enduring image of sentimental appeal and one that is permanently lodged in our national consciousness. But the awesome scale of her achievements over the course of her 90 years is infinitely more troubling - and inspiring - than this mythical simplification.
From her tireless campaigning and staggering intellectual abilities to her tortured relationship with her sister and her distressing medical condition, this vivid and immensely readable biography draws on a wealth of unpublished material and previously unseen family papers, disentangling the myth from the reality and reinvigorating with new life one of the most iconic figures in modern British history.
672 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
July 28, 2013
At over 500 pages, I kept wanting to put this down but then another anecdote would pique my interest. The family tree helped keep track of the multiple personalities, and a timeline would have helped even more. The author is good at analyzing Nightingale's strengths and weaknesses, and how, as a woman, she used her tremendous knowledge and skills to navigate Victorian society and accomplish her goals of improving conditions for the sick all around the world.
September 10, 2014
This exhaustive biography is...exhausting.
Nightingale is an interesting figure--basically canonized in her own lifetime for entirely the wrong reasons, she emerges much more complex when examined. The Victorians didn't know what to make of a lady with will and fortitude who was enthusiastic about getting her hands dirty caring for ailing lower classes and even more enthusiastic about organizing all the proper logistics for doing so. Nightingale didn't want to make the endless useless social calls prescribed for her class--the tedium brought her to the brink of suicide. She didn't want to be a maid at the beck and call of doctors, either. She fought some remarkable political games to consolidate power, and helped revolutionize the visualization of statistics while she was at it. She was brilliant, stubborn, ruthless, selfless, selfish, and a master of the humblebrag. But the Victorians weren't really equipped to handle that, so they declared her to be a ministering angel whose soft hand cooled fevered brows and called it a day.
Detangling the very interesting aspects of the story out of the overabundance of detail in the book is a bit of a chore, though. Nightingale not only kept all her letters, she kept all her drafts of letters. And she wrote a lot of letters. After awhile, it starts to become clear that the biographer believes that if he had to read it, so should we. This book could easily have been a third shorter. We have chapters of information on Nightingale's family history. Now, in the biography of, say, a monarch, this is relevant information because it sets the political scene. If a subject had a particularly unusual family situation, it's relevant because that must inform the character of the child. But Nightingale was the daughter of a completely unexceptional gentleman. The details of his father's fortune are mostly irrelevant. Similarly, the two entire pages about cats that she owned at various points of her life were unnecessary.
Meanwhile, some of the important and dramatic events get lost in the blizzard of details. The evenness of tone, regardless of the drama of events, makes the high points of her life feel relatively dull. We get a number of ominous foreshadowings about a frenemy who would one day betray her--the betrayal itself is wrapped up in about a page, and does not seem to cause much in the way of impediment or distress. The section on Crimea feels strangely flat.
It has been fashionable at various points to declare Nightingale a saint. There have also been waves of backlash that ascribe devious impulses and deviant sexuality. This book, mercifully, walks a moderate path of showing the hard work of a brilliant but difficult woman. However, the number of times the author points to less balanced portrayals, demanding a cookie for not going overboard, does somewhat lessen the accomplishment.
Nightingale is an interesting figure--basically canonized in her own lifetime for entirely the wrong reasons, she emerges much more complex when examined. The Victorians didn't know what to make of a lady with will and fortitude who was enthusiastic about getting her hands dirty caring for ailing lower classes and even more enthusiastic about organizing all the proper logistics for doing so. Nightingale didn't want to make the endless useless social calls prescribed for her class--the tedium brought her to the brink of suicide. She didn't want to be a maid at the beck and call of doctors, either. She fought some remarkable political games to consolidate power, and helped revolutionize the visualization of statistics while she was at it. She was brilliant, stubborn, ruthless, selfless, selfish, and a master of the humblebrag. But the Victorians weren't really equipped to handle that, so they declared her to be a ministering angel whose soft hand cooled fevered brows and called it a day.
Detangling the very interesting aspects of the story out of the overabundance of detail in the book is a bit of a chore, though. Nightingale not only kept all her letters, she kept all her drafts of letters. And she wrote a lot of letters. After awhile, it starts to become clear that the biographer believes that if he had to read it, so should we. This book could easily have been a third shorter. We have chapters of information on Nightingale's family history. Now, in the biography of, say, a monarch, this is relevant information because it sets the political scene. If a subject had a particularly unusual family situation, it's relevant because that must inform the character of the child. But Nightingale was the daughter of a completely unexceptional gentleman. The details of his father's fortune are mostly irrelevant. Similarly, the two entire pages about cats that she owned at various points of her life were unnecessary.
Meanwhile, some of the important and dramatic events get lost in the blizzard of details. The evenness of tone, regardless of the drama of events, makes the high points of her life feel relatively dull. We get a number of ominous foreshadowings about a frenemy who would one day betray her--the betrayal itself is wrapped up in about a page, and does not seem to cause much in the way of impediment or distress. The section on Crimea feels strangely flat.
It has been fashionable at various points to declare Nightingale a saint. There have also been waves of backlash that ascribe devious impulses and deviant sexuality. This book, mercifully, walks a moderate path of showing the hard work of a brilliant but difficult woman. However, the number of times the author points to less balanced portrayals, demanding a cookie for not going overboard, does somewhat lessen the accomplishment.
December 30, 2008
A challenging read, but also rewarding. Florence was an extremely progressive woman for her time, and if she'd lived in the modern day she'd probably have ended up as a member of Parliament, and/or a math professor at Oxford. I loved the stories about her bond with her pet owl, Athena... they made her seem very human and accessible.
As an aside, she seemed to be a real-life version of "Dorothea" from "Middlemarch" - a genius who encountered a lot of obstacles and closed doors, simply because she was female. At least Nightingale did eventually find an outlet for some of her skills, although I'm sure she didn't even scratch the surface of her capabilities.
As an aside, she seemed to be a real-life version of "Dorothea" from "Middlemarch" - a genius who encountered a lot of obstacles and closed doors, simply because she was female. At least Nightingale did eventually find an outlet for some of her skills, although I'm sure she didn't even scratch the surface of her capabilities.
December 19, 2008
This is an amazingly thorough biography of Nightingale and also a nice unpacking of the Nightingale legend. I didn't realize until Bostridge's book how much I thought I knew about her was not at all based in fact. And I love that she was stubborn and determined and a little mean when it came to her causes. She cared about individual patients, but she knew that better regulations would save more lives.
August 27, 2018
Her fame hides her true genius like the shells hiding the jewel.
A rebellious independent, a challenge lover of her time. Who says these two can not go hand in hand with compassion?
Selfless, devoted work; instead of selfish, meaningless pray.
Sanitary prevention for health of army and public, instead of bureaucracy for personal fame.
Challenger, active and caring womanhood instead of tea parties, decorations and "socially appropriateness".
Lengthy reading yet no regrets. Impressive attention to details and determined work of research help readers to truly meet this extraordinary woman, between the lines. I wish to have read more about her time in Scutari. Still, great work. Thank you Mr.Bostridge for diligent work.
A rebellious independent, a challenge lover of her time. Who says these two can not go hand in hand with compassion?
Selfless, devoted work; instead of selfish, meaningless pray.
Sanitary prevention for health of army and public, instead of bureaucracy for personal fame.
Challenger, active and caring womanhood instead of tea parties, decorations and "socially appropriateness".
Lengthy reading yet no regrets. Impressive attention to details and determined work of research help readers to truly meet this extraordinary woman, between the lines. I wish to have read more about her time in Scutari. Still, great work. Thank you Mr.Bostridge for diligent work.
December 8, 2018
Overwhelmed by detail but we still don't know what color toilet paper Florence preferred.
September 23, 2023
Sometimes when you know a little bit about a person from history, when you read more about them you realize how much greater and more impactful they actually were then just the iconic image. The biography of George Washington was like that for me. The story of Florence Nightingale is another. The opening of her first biography, written in 1913, opens “Her life was built on larger lines, her work had more importance, than belong to the legend”. Many times I felt like I was reading a story of a Silicon Valley titan, especially with Elon Musk in the news so much now. Nightingale had the same “on the spectrum” personality, intense focus, a workaholic personality, leadership skills, having a "press" persona and being in the right place at the right time. Some of that is due to her upper class background giving her the right connections but she worked hard to create and seize opportunities. It was surprising to me how much she did while essentially being bedridden much of her later life, the results of chronic illnesses. A brilliant administrator and tactician (which she did more of in the Crimea than actual nursing), she was also way ahead of her time in creating and using infographics and statistics.
Nightingale was a prolific writer, even writing notes to people in other parts of her house (imagine her with a smartphone), so I realize the immensity of digging through that. While the author did a remarkable job, the book is too long and some of the anecdotes could be eliminated and you would still get the essentials of the story. As other reviewers state, it's something of an exhausting read, skimming some of the later sections will help.
She was in todays language, a mission-driven person. As the author states: If we were to drive one simple lesson from Florence Nightingale's life and work, it would stem from the single unifying thread: that society has a collective responsibility for the health of all its members.
Nightingale was a prolific writer, even writing notes to people in other parts of her house (imagine her with a smartphone), so I realize the immensity of digging through that. While the author did a remarkable job, the book is too long and some of the anecdotes could be eliminated and you would still get the essentials of the story. As other reviewers state, it's something of an exhausting read, skimming some of the later sections will help.
She was in todays language, a mission-driven person. As the author states: If we were to drive one simple lesson from Florence Nightingale's life and work, it would stem from the single unifying thread: that society has a collective responsibility for the health of all its members.
June 15, 2021
To echo another reviewer, this biography was exhausting. Exhaustive, yes, but so laboriously drawn out as to nearly kill me with its dry toast.
Florence Nightingale is a interesting person, one who is much different than the humble, floating angel with the lamp in the hospitals of the Crimea. No, I learned she was only a practicing nurse for a very, very short period of time. Her contribution to nursing was more along the lines of removing the stigma of nurses as only for the lower caste and certainly not ladies, hospital administration (including military and workhouse hospitals), and the emphasizing of hygiene and sanitation which, for a time in which diseases like Cholera, typhus, and typhoid were leading killers, saved many thousands of lives. She is not the founder of modern nursing, since she did not advocate for nurses becoming doctor assistants like they are in many ways today but she did provide a culturally necessary step between the cesspools where the sick were to the modern hospitals we tout today.
Her desire to serve mankind and her life's dedication to her calling to help the sick (or, later, to prevent illness by teaching healthy living), is admirable and noteworthy. There were nuggets of wisdom and foresight sprinkled liberally throughout the book....if only it were shorter! At least 1/3 of the book would have been more appropriately printed in notes, with only a tiny asterisk to interrupt the flow of the story. There are too many details, too many tangents, too much information about characters who were minor contributors to the story of Florence Nightingale.
I am glad I read this book, but will likely never read it again. I'm too tired.
Florence Nightingale is a interesting person, one who is much different than the humble, floating angel with the lamp in the hospitals of the Crimea. No, I learned she was only a practicing nurse for a very, very short period of time. Her contribution to nursing was more along the lines of removing the stigma of nurses as only for the lower caste and certainly not ladies, hospital administration (including military and workhouse hospitals), and the emphasizing of hygiene and sanitation which, for a time in which diseases like Cholera, typhus, and typhoid were leading killers, saved many thousands of lives. She is not the founder of modern nursing, since she did not advocate for nurses becoming doctor assistants like they are in many ways today but she did provide a culturally necessary step between the cesspools where the sick were to the modern hospitals we tout today.
Her desire to serve mankind and her life's dedication to her calling to help the sick (or, later, to prevent illness by teaching healthy living), is admirable and noteworthy. There were nuggets of wisdom and foresight sprinkled liberally throughout the book....if only it were shorter! At least 1/3 of the book would have been more appropriately printed in notes, with only a tiny asterisk to interrupt the flow of the story. There are too many details, too many tangents, too much information about characters who were minor contributors to the story of Florence Nightingale.
I am glad I read this book, but will likely never read it again. I'm too tired.
July 29, 2021
I bought it because it came through the daily deal and I do certainly know a lot more about her now (and much of that interesting), but I'd have to admit to more skimming than reading the second half. It is a biography aimed at the person who wants a very detailed and particular account of her movements and achievements. I think I might have been better off with one aimed at a person who wanted more of an overview and also more insight into the context of many things. Reads like a book aimed at true scholarly historians, not at dilettantes like me who would have liked more thumbnail sketches of people and places.
But still interesting to know (a) how little of what she did was connected to wandering about in hospitals here in Istanbul with a lamp (b) how long it took her even to get her life started (c) how much she actually achieved and how it was actually at a way higher level than patting any fevered brows - she got systems in place that changed huge numbers of lives through determined pursuance of a higher level vision of how things could be (d) how much of that she did from a sick bed. Lots of messages to be taken from all of that, so glad I persisted.
But still interesting to know (a) how little of what she did was connected to wandering about in hospitals here in Istanbul with a lamp (b) how long it took her even to get her life started (c) how much she actually achieved and how it was actually at a way higher level than patting any fevered brows - she got systems in place that changed huge numbers of lives through determined pursuance of a higher level vision of how things could be (d) how much of that she did from a sick bed. Lots of messages to be taken from all of that, so glad I persisted.
July 10, 2020
Finished (at last)! I now know a lot about Florence Nightingale and have learned many things about her. I never realized how much she added to the study of statistics, especially public health statistics. This book was passed down by my sister in law, a professor of nursing as an excellent biography of Florence Nightingale. I was a little surprised that it took half the book to actually get to the Crimea and that part of her life only took up 2 chapters (of 21). I expect other biographies would fill in my sense of missing day to day life for that important year and a half of her life. In any case this was an informative book if not one that was a fast read.
February 3, 2020
This book took me a very long time to read because of the amount of information and names to keep track of. Amazed at how far reaching was what Florence had accomplished. I'm happy I finally managed to finish it to get a flavour of the Florence that I knew nothing about.
July 20, 2019
Not "light reading" at all, but really good to read, and well researched!
May 27, 2020
An in-depth look at the extraordinary life of an iconic woman. It was well-worth the time it took to read.
Reading on a Kindle, you miss out on the illustrations.
Reading on a Kindle, you miss out on the illustrations.
June 30, 2020
Slow reading at times but very detailed and informative.
April 19, 2022
I wanted to understand Florence Nightingale and what she did and why. This author gave me to much information about FN's extended family and friends. It was tough getting through this book.
August 21, 2023
Tremendous book. First three parts are awesome. Fourth part is so-so, and you won't miss anything if you skip it. I think the last part is completely unneccessary.
September 9, 2017
This gives quite comprehensive coverage of a well revered long living British heroine harking back to the 1800s. Florence was born 12 May 1820 and died 13 Aug 1910, aged 90, and what she did in between (and, at points, did not) is well documented here.
She pioneered a nursing role for women for which she will well be remembered. She was particularly interested in the statistics of how people progressed and spent a lot of time analysing figures (she invented the pie chart - and, liking a circular format for things, also proposed that patients might be arranged in a circle with a nurse stationed centrally as opposed to in lines along the walls of a ward - i.e. pie chart style not bar chart).
As well as proposing design ideas about how hospitals would best be built, she entertained patients, enabling them to read books in bed and to view photos through a stereoscope. She also wrote letters on their behalf to their family.
Quite an avid letter writer she pertitioned for further bandages and food supplies which they were often short on.
Chaps surviving the onslaught of the Crimean war in Scutari, where her mission began, were often fairly badly wounded to the legs and she supported surgeons as a theatre assistant when they attempted (not too successfully at that time) amputations - a pioneering intervention then.
Sanitation was a major factor that reduced positive outcomes, she realised. There was a lack of access to water and conditions like dysentery were rife.
She was proactive in her approach and, taking an interest in the wider world, she had a lot to do with improving sanitation in India, where she'd wanted to visit but never got chance to. She did visit Egypt.
She was well educated and could engage in intelligent conversation with male counterparts, though a suitable suitor evaded her. She had romantic mail but not of ultimate interest at the time.
Whilst her sister, Parthenope (named also after an Italian city - Naples, which was called Parthenope), had rheumatoid arthritis, it seems Florence often had boughts of low energy and so maybe some sort of rheumatic issue. Frequent spells of being in bed with her being the one in receipt of care occurred and she spent a quantity of her later years living in a hotel room with service on hand - by hand bell accompanied requests.
She had about 14 pet cats at one time and even a pet owl - called Athena - that she had rescued for a while. So she was nurturing by nature for nature as well as for humanity, suggests this literary piece.
Her links to Derbyshire are described with her spending winters there - so not her favourite place compared to the family's southern residence, perhaps. Her home was Lea Green and she walked a lot, including to the train station at Whatstandwell.
She was brought up by a Unitarian father here, who home tutored her in languages etc. and helped her mix in the right circles. She visited the poor in the village, taking gifts like cakes and took an interest in their ills and plights. She became a friend of Queen Victoria and objected to Papal authority over the Church of England, though did eventually convert to Roman Catholicism prior to her passing, having worked alongside many nuns. The school of nursing she began linked to St Thomas's Hospital in London accepted unmarried women who were not obliged to be nuns but who were expected to leave should they marry, which many did. As well as Royal links her family connects with the Bonham Carters - as demonstrated by the family tree data in this tome. She also counted as friends Elizabeth Gaskell, the famous novelist, and Elizabeth Blackwell, famous as first female doctor in the USA.
There is certainly a wealth of information about the lady who was and, I feel even more so for me by my reading of this, is still now an inspiration to women particularly.
It is interesting to note a quote of hers about how she detests cigarettes and thinks they are harmful to health - and this thought was well ahead of her time and before scientific evidence (she did study lots of stats) but has since been confirmed. Just as hygiene levels have somewhat progressed since her heyday.
All in all an enlightening and in-depth insight into the life of a lady who studied the "fine arts" of nursing and was a good statistician, letter writer, an advocate for public health and a very successful social reformer of her time.
She pioneered a nursing role for women for which she will well be remembered. She was particularly interested in the statistics of how people progressed and spent a lot of time analysing figures (she invented the pie chart - and, liking a circular format for things, also proposed that patients might be arranged in a circle with a nurse stationed centrally as opposed to in lines along the walls of a ward - i.e. pie chart style not bar chart).
As well as proposing design ideas about how hospitals would best be built, she entertained patients, enabling them to read books in bed and to view photos through a stereoscope. She also wrote letters on their behalf to their family.
Quite an avid letter writer she pertitioned for further bandages and food supplies which they were often short on.
Chaps surviving the onslaught of the Crimean war in Scutari, where her mission began, were often fairly badly wounded to the legs and she supported surgeons as a theatre assistant when they attempted (not too successfully at that time) amputations - a pioneering intervention then.
Sanitation was a major factor that reduced positive outcomes, she realised. There was a lack of access to water and conditions like dysentery were rife.
She was proactive in her approach and, taking an interest in the wider world, she had a lot to do with improving sanitation in India, where she'd wanted to visit but never got chance to. She did visit Egypt.
She was well educated and could engage in intelligent conversation with male counterparts, though a suitable suitor evaded her. She had romantic mail but not of ultimate interest at the time.
Whilst her sister, Parthenope (named also after an Italian city - Naples, which was called Parthenope), had rheumatoid arthritis, it seems Florence often had boughts of low energy and so maybe some sort of rheumatic issue. Frequent spells of being in bed with her being the one in receipt of care occurred and she spent a quantity of her later years living in a hotel room with service on hand - by hand bell accompanied requests.
She had about 14 pet cats at one time and even a pet owl - called Athena - that she had rescued for a while. So she was nurturing by nature for nature as well as for humanity, suggests this literary piece.
Her links to Derbyshire are described with her spending winters there - so not her favourite place compared to the family's southern residence, perhaps. Her home was Lea Green and she walked a lot, including to the train station at Whatstandwell.
She was brought up by a Unitarian father here, who home tutored her in languages etc. and helped her mix in the right circles. She visited the poor in the village, taking gifts like cakes and took an interest in their ills and plights. She became a friend of Queen Victoria and objected to Papal authority over the Church of England, though did eventually convert to Roman Catholicism prior to her passing, having worked alongside many nuns. The school of nursing she began linked to St Thomas's Hospital in London accepted unmarried women who were not obliged to be nuns but who were expected to leave should they marry, which many did. As well as Royal links her family connects with the Bonham Carters - as demonstrated by the family tree data in this tome. She also counted as friends Elizabeth Gaskell, the famous novelist, and Elizabeth Blackwell, famous as first female doctor in the USA.
There is certainly a wealth of information about the lady who was and, I feel even more so for me by my reading of this, is still now an inspiration to women particularly.
It is interesting to note a quote of hers about how she detests cigarettes and thinks they are harmful to health - and this thought was well ahead of her time and before scientific evidence (she did study lots of stats) but has since been confirmed. Just as hygiene levels have somewhat progressed since her heyday.
All in all an enlightening and in-depth insight into the life of a lady who studied the "fine arts" of nursing and was a good statistician, letter writer, an advocate for public health and a very successful social reformer of her time.
July 10, 2020
What an eye-opener. She was so much more than the founder of modern nursing. And did so little hands-on nursing than the Lady with the Lamp myth would have you think. Florence was way way upstream from there.
Reading this book was my way of celebrating the International Year of the Nurse in 2020, marking the 200th anniversary of her birthday. It is very detailed and is a hard slog at points. Only pick it up if you have dedicated yourself to it. The change to my worldview of nursing as a nurse made it all worth it.
Reading this book was my way of celebrating the International Year of the Nurse in 2020, marking the 200th anniversary of her birthday. It is very detailed and is a hard slog at points. Only pick it up if you have dedicated yourself to it. The change to my worldview of nursing as a nurse made it all worth it.
October 6, 2013
What I liked about it: Of course I had heard of Florence Nightingale, and even went to the museum at St Thomas' hospital the last time I was in London, but I didn't know much about her besides the whole Crimea debacle. For example, I didn't know that her family had made it extremely hard for her to pursue her profession or reforms, believing that her place was at home or with a husband and children. In fact, she moved out on her own because she was so tired of her mother and sister pestering her to sit home and take tea with them. Some of the problems she encounters are highly entertaining as well, for example public resistance to the fact that some of her first group of nurses were Catholic nuns, which caused outcry in the UK that they would try to convert troops. In another episode, one of her rivals suggests that nurses should only be upper middle class ladies, so they shouldn't get a salary, as duty is all the recompense they need. And of course the constant struggle to find nurses who could stay sober for one damned shift. It actually makes you pretty grateful that FN was able to accomplish what she did.
What I didn't like about it: Her collected correspondence is 17 volumes, and it feels like Bostridge is trying to quote each and every letter she ever wrote. Also, especially at the beginning the book feels less like a biography and more like a hagiography. He does get better towards the end and even admits that Ms Nightingale might have had some character flaws and demanded a bit too much of some of her supporters.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
What I didn't like about it: Her collected correspondence is 17 volumes, and it feels like Bostridge is trying to quote each and every letter she ever wrote. Also, especially at the beginning the book feels less like a biography and more like a hagiography. He does get better towards the end and even admits that Ms Nightingale might have had some character flaws and demanded a bit too much of some of her supporters.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
January 16, 2009
Nightingale chafed at her daughter-at-home upper-class life and in her 30's eventually earned her parents' permission to work in an administrative position in an institution in London. With the outbreak of the war in the Crimea, a family friend suggested she go there to organize the hospital. She was there less than two years. The war zone was accessible to reporters and sketch artists, and, given that the generals were uninspiring (charge of the light brigade etc), Nightingale, who was effective in her role, was made into a heroine and celebrity, a media darling. She was an excellent organizer, a writer of letters and reports, a determined advocate, and well-connected in government circles. She was the right person in the right place at the right time to reform army nursing and nursing training. I was reminded of a theme of the recent book "Outliers", which pointed out the role that the right place and the right time play in an individual person's success.
November 29, 2015
I started reading this book because I'm a nurse and very vaguely knew about Florence Nightingale's contribution to nursing training. I am normally a quick reader but this took me 4 weeks to read. It has a lot of details that I found dry but I really enjoyed seeing her views on nursing and comparing them to what is taught now. Because of the conflicting biographies that have been written in the past as detailed in the last chapter, I think I rate this book higher as it has done what it says in challenging the many misconceptions surrounding her life. It was a good ready just a bit long and a lot of names of people I would never really remember. But I come away feeling like I understand what she has contributed to health care.
June 23, 2009
Don't be put off by the size of this book - this is very readable, fascinating look at Victorian England through the lens of Florence Nightengale. This book is very well-researched, lots of photos, and organized to emphasize the themes in FN's life. Of special interest is the role of women and how it evolved during the Victorian era, and FN's influence on its change.
January 4, 2018
A long and detailed biography of an amazing person. Nightingale (1820-1910) was the first to apply statistics to solve large-scale social problems, such as caring for sick civilians and wounded soldiers - as well as public sanitation throughout the British empire. She is also an interesting point in the development of modern feminist thinking.
August 21, 2011
Interesting. I'm fascinated by mid-nineteenth-century
people who overcame so much and accomplished so much:
Nightingale, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Carter, Audobon, Olmstead etc.
Sometimes I like to think about an afternoon tea discussion with all of them
together - okay, I'm a hopeless nerd.
people who overcame so much and accomplished so much:
Nightingale, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Carter, Audobon, Olmstead etc.
Sometimes I like to think about an afternoon tea discussion with all of them
together - okay, I'm a hopeless nerd.
November 3, 2015
I was really interesting in reading this biography and it was well-researched and interesting but it was quite a laborious read. I am no stranger to reading books of 500+ pages but this one dragged a bit in sections.
March 19, 2011
This Biography is a long, slow tedious read, but I found it interesting and intriguing enough to motivate me to finish reading it.
April 21, 2013
Enjoy this book thoroughly, very detailed and well presented research, a lot of interesting information that shows readers the real Florence Nightingale.
November 24, 2017
Fascinating, super interesting.
January 18, 2010
A very thorough look at the life of an interesting woman.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews