Shin Kickers From History: Elizabeth Blackwell, MD

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in the world to become a doctor with a degree from a certified medical school. She was determined that she would not be the last. She became, as the title of her 1895 autobiography proclaimed,* a pioneer in opening the medical profession to women. Blackwell was born in England…

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Clara Barton: Nursing Outside the Box

[WARNING: For the next few weeks, it’s going to be all Civil War all the time here at the Margins as we lead up to February 16, when Little Brown releases Heroines of Mercy Street into the world. I’ll try to keep the My Book! My Book! to a minimum and focus on the stories…

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From The Archives: Tough Broads of the Civil War

Just to prove that I’ve been thinking about nurses and other women who played a role in the American Civil War for a while now, here’s a post that first appeared in the Margins in 2011: I’ve said it before:  If you hang out in Popular History Land, or even Book World these days, it’s…

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