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Adventures of an army nurse in two wars; Edited from the diary and correspondence of Mary Phinney, baroness von Olnhausen
This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. We have represented this book in the same form as it was first published. Hence any marks seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.
366 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 21, 2026
Obviously this is no thrilling novel, but after reading Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott, I wanted to see some more nurse's perspectives.
It's really a collection of Mary von Olnhausen's journal entries and letters of her experiences nursing during the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian war. While it sounds boring, it really wasn't. It kept my attention throughout and went pretty quickly. It definitely got more boring towards the end. Things slowed down once she got older and went to Europe. It wasn't horrible though.
From a historical perspective, this is incredibly interesting. I went into it knowing what it was, so I enjoyed it a lot, but it doesn't always flow smoothly. There are missing letters, gaps in the timeline, conflicting dates, etc. It wasn't written as a novel and it doesn't read like one.
I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in the time period or in nursing. It gave a really cool perspective of what life was like for nurses during the Civil War.
It's really a collection of Mary von Olnhausen's journal entries and letters of her experiences nursing during the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian war. While it sounds boring, it really wasn't. It kept my attention throughout and went pretty quickly. It definitely got more boring towards the end. Things slowed down once she got older and went to Europe. It wasn't horrible though.
From a historical perspective, this is incredibly interesting. I went into it knowing what it was, so I enjoyed it a lot, but it doesn't always flow smoothly. There are missing letters, gaps in the timeline, conflicting dates, etc. It wasn't written as a novel and it doesn't read like one.
I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in the time period or in nursing. It gave a really cool perspective of what life was like for nurses during the Civil War.
Displaying 1 of 1 review