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Mary Seacole: The Black Woman Who Invented Modern Nursing
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MSRP: $25.00
Your Price: $25.00
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Manufacturer: Basic Books
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Additional Mary Seacole: The Black Woman Who Invented Modern Nursing Information
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She was a black woman, and she flouted convention. In an age that put ladies in the parlor and preferred them to be seen and not heard, she was nursing the British wounded, not in hospital wards with Florence Nightingale but on the Crimean battlefields—and off them, she was running a restaurant and hotel. She purveyed homemade pickles in England; she mined for gold in Panama. For unabashed individuality, Mary Jane Grant Seacole knew no peer. Yet Punch, the Times, the Illustrated London News all ardently touted her, and Queen Victoria herself entertained her. Mary Seacole—childless widow of Horatio Nelson’s godson and "good ole Mother Seacole" to the soldiers at Sebastopol—was Britain’s first black heroine, and this robust, engaging biography by social historian Jane Robinson shows why. In a narrative driven by colorful adventure, Robinson charts Seacole’s amazing odyssey from her native Kingston, Jamaica, to her adopted London, via Panama, where she lent her doctoring and nursing skills to catastrophic outbreaks of cholera and yellow fever, and the Crimea, where she founded the famous British Hotel. Seacole makes numerous other eventful stops along the way, and everywhere, even in the face of disappointment, disaster, and loss, her indomitable spirit prevails.
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What Customers Say About Mary Seacole: The Black Woman Who Invented Modern Nursing:
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This was an interesting read on a woman of color who was clearly passionate about her mission. Who cares about the 'catfight' mentality between Mary and Lola Montez. However, I could've done without some of the rather highly subjective opinions the author intersperced throughout the book. I felt doing that brought the credibility down a notch. However, I am glad that the author exposed Florence Nightingale for the self-righteous racist she was. I would not recommend this book for any serious historian or in a classroom, but for just independent study and an interesting read suited to 21st century tastes, then it's got what you're looking for.
Frustrating though Jamaica can be, however, writing of Mary's mother, `perhaps she was Jane, Mary's middle name' and then proceeding to call her Jane throughout, is naughty. The soldiers held a benefit festival for her too, and she raised further funds by writing a best-selling autobiography. I used to think the surname of Mary Seacole (1805-1881) was a slave-name. By dispensing booze with her herbal medicines, she earned Florence Nightingale's opprobrium. When Patrick Vernon, whom I interviewed in November's edition of this magazine, created his 100 Great Black Britains poll in 2003 (www.100greatblackbritons.com), Mary Seacole won. Not much is known about Mary, but what there is amply justifies this otherwise splendid biography. Despite short-term bankruptcy caused by the end of the war, Mary thus became medicinal `rubber' to the future Queen Alexandra.
Mary overcame many - yet ultimately it was white Florence, not black Mary, who became the heroine of the Crimea. Imagine my surprise when I opened this captivating new biography and discovered she born Mary Grant, and married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole - who was probably an illegitimate son of Admiral Lord Nelson.Jane Robinson's unravelling of Mary's own illegitimate roots in Jamaica is also fascinating. The 19th century contained many obstacles that stopped mixed-race women from achieving ambitions. Motivated by a passion to be useful - and rich - Mary followed in her mother's footsteps by opening a hospital-hotel dispensing native remedies near Sevastopol, in 1855, to tend to the British soldiers in the Crimean War. But the common soldiers whom she mothered loved her, as did some high-ranking officers related to Queen Victoria. Recently, though, Africa has reclaimed her as a role-model.
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