Celebrating Nurses: A Visual History

(back cover) Dramatic illustrated stories of nursing's pioneering figures Revealing pictures, historic letters, fascinating facts, and oral testimonies from nurses of the past and present are brought together in this remarkable history of the nursing profession. You'll read about-- Florence Nightingale, who elevated nursing to a respected profession during the Crimean War Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross Walt Whitman, a poet who turned to nursing during the American Civil War Adelaide Nutting, the world's first professor of nursing Edith Cavell, the heroic British nurse in German-occupied Belgium during World War I This vividly-told history of nursing is carried to the present day with a fascinating account of how twenty-first-century nursing has expanded to encompass high technology and covers many duties once considered the responsibility of doctors. (front flap) Celebrating Nurses A Visual History Dr. Christine Hallett U.S. Consultant Joan E. Lynaugh, R.N., M.S.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N. This highly readable narrative history of the nursing profession is complemented with nearly 200 dramatic photos and illustrations. Amid gunfire on Civil War battlefields, nurse Clara Barton said: "I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them." Here too is the story of Edith Cavell, who was executed after helping Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I. Nursing's contributions during World War II, as well as in the Korean, Vietnam, and Middle East wars are also described in several vivid accounts. But just as important have been nursing's peacetime achievements. In America's crowded cities during the early years of the twentieth century, public health nursing developed as a means to fight infection and poverty in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This was a time when germ theory was first emerging, and the advice offered by visiting nurses on hygiene, cleanliness, and good diet saved thousands of lives. Celebrating Nurses is an inspiring chronicle of a glorious and valued profession, and an important contribution to the literature of medical practice. (back flap) Dr. Christine Hallett, Ph.D. is a Registered Nurse and the Director of the Center for the History of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Manchester, U.K. She also holds fellowships with the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal Society for the Arts, U.K. Joan E. Lynaugh, Ph.D., R.N., is Professor Emerita of the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing.